The Addams Chronicles Part One: A Human In A Monster's Body
by SpiderFlash 1273
Summary: Long ago, two races ruled over the Earth. Humans and Monsters. One day, war broke out between the two races. After a long battle, the humans were victorious. They sealed the Monsters underground with a magic spell. Centuries later, Human orphans Drake Addams and his sister, Frisk, have terrible lives. But when they fall into the Underground, their lives change for the better.
1. Introductions

Almost everyone knows the "Undertale," where a child falls down into the underground, and manages to become friends with everyone and save all of the monsters trapped in the underground by the humans. Everyone knows that before "Frisk," there was Chara and six other humans who fell into the underground, but all died. However, not many people know about that there was another human that fell before Frisk, who was blessed with a different fate. This story is about a lesser known tale, but one that is still very important. This is the story of Corsiva.

Our story starts on the surface, just a mere four years before Frisk fell into the underground. Corsiva, or rather their human name, Drake Addams, was an orphan. Around the age of 5, his parents and grandparents were murdered, and he had no family members that could care for him, or his 2 year old sister, Frisk. Nearly 7 years had passed, and yet Drake didn't have many friends at the orphanage, or anywhere for that matter. The only person that he felt he could actually trust was Frisk. In the car accident, Frisk and Drake were the only survivors, and as their parents didn't have any siblings, and their grandparents had all died from illnesses, they only had each other.

Drake was always different in some way, and people didn't like him because of it. These people didn't bother hiding it, either, so Drake had a very low self esteem. However, true at heart, and wanting to do what was right, Addams liked to help people that were getting bullied, or picked on in some way, and that made quite a few enemies. Even the person in charge of the orphanage, and the woman who "cared" (note the sarcasm) for the children, Madam Security Drake called her, hated Drake because of this. Her philosophy was that the children needed to learn to stand up for themselves, and if they were constantly helped, they would turn out weak. However, Drake was not afraid. He taught Frisk that she should only defend herself, and never attack outright, unless absolutely necessary, and he lived by this philosophy himself. So, to protect the other children, he would distract the bullies, and give the victim enough time to escape, making sure that they were never noticed running away. Only once did he ever actually do anything to harm the Bullies, and he hated doing it, so he promised to himself and to his sister that he would never do it again.

July 17, 2020. Universe 2120; Earth 13.

Then one day, the bullies had enough of drake, and decided that they would teach him a lesson about interfering with other people's business. So they decided to go directly after him. However, Drake was prepared for this. While the bullies were plotting, Frisk caught every word that came out of their mouths, and went off to warn Drake. By the time that the bullies reached Drakes room, they only found that He and Frisk had taken the things that they needed, and ran away. The bullies didn't know what happened, so they talked to Madam Security, who always favored the bullies over any of the students. She brought up the security cameras and looked at some of the footage of the building from the previous hour, and what they saw surprised all of them.

Nearly thirty minutes earlier, as the bullies were making their way towards Drake's room, Drake was preparing him and his sister for what lay ahead of them. Drake looked at Frisk. "Are you ready?" he asked. Frisk looked at him, trembling, and replied, "Yes. But I'm still pretty scared." Drake sighed and said, "I know, I know. I am too. But we need to do this. I don't want you to get hurt because of things that I do." Frisk shakes her head and says, "That's not it. I'm worried about what will happen to you when we get out."

Drake looked back at her, surprised. "You're worried that something will happen to me?" He said. Frisk nodded. "Every time that you go out and do these things where you help the other kids that are being bullied, I get worried that something will happen to you, and now here we are. Running away from the orphanage, where we were at least mostly safe. But out there, there are people that are a lot worse than just these bullies that you continuously defy, no matter the risk. I don't know what will happen to you when we get out there." Drake looked at her and said "I'm sorry, I never knew. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. If something happens, I'll be too fast for it to reach me. Besides, I'm not just going to leave without grabbing something to defend myself with." Frisk looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Drake smiled, and replied. "Madam Security is going to be very unhappy about this. Heh heh heh. I've been snooping around a bit for the past 3 months, and I think that I've found something that just screams me." Frisk looked at him, and asked "What did you find?" Drake smiled even more mischievously, and said "You'll see." Drake packed a few more of his things into a small backpack, and grabbed a key, which he put in his pocket. "Now, let's get this show on the road." He said triumphantly, as he put on his backpack. Drake lifted up his bed, and moved a loose tile on the floor below the bed, revealing a hidden tunnel, just small enough for Drake and Frisk to go through. Drake gestured towards the passage, and said "Ladies first." Frisk sighed and crawled down the tunnel. Drake followed, and pulled the bed back down to the ground above the tunnel, covering his tracks.

Nearly ten minutes later, Frisk emerged from behind a tree, 5 yards away from the orphanage. She looked around, but couldn't find Drake in the darkness. **_Where could he be?_** She wondered.

 **A/N- Hey guys! This is my first fan fiction, so please don't be too hard on me if it's bad. Just thought I should let you know that words that are _Bold/Italics_ are used to tell people's thoughts. Also, just** _italics_ **are used to describe when a person is singing. Well, hope you enjoy, please comment and/or review!**

 **-SF**


	2. The Best Way To Find A Secret Room

Only five minutes before Frisk emerged, Drake appeared in the kitchen. He smiled to himself and whispered into the darkness "I knew that it was a good idea to make these tunnels! Now, let's see if I can find my way back to that room." Drake silently opened up his backpack, and pulled out some cameras, an MP3 and a pair of earbuds. He quietly unlocked the door with his key, crept out into the hall, checking that no one could see him, and started sprinting down the halls of the orphanage. Leaving cameras at nearly every corner he passed, Drake started to slow down as he approached Madam Security's office. He placed motion detectors outside her door this time, and started to crawl away slowly, but cautiously. When he got back to the kitchens, he sat down, hidden in the blind spot of the window in the door to enter the room. He opened up his backpack, and pulled out a small laptop. Drake plugged the MP3 into the laptop, and slowly, the MP3 started to download the code to view the cameras he placed. After 30 seconds pass, he unplugged the "MP3," opened up a map on the computer, and looked at the camera footage. "Oh, shit." he said aloud to himself.

At that current moment, the bully leader, James Hecox, was heading down the hall, followed closely by his gang. Drake suddenly felt a shiver going down his spine, and realized how much he had upset the bullies. He wasn't discouraged though. Seeing how serious this matter really was, he knew now more than ever that he absolutely had to escape. The last time that Hecox actually got his own hands dirty, the person that upset him was never the same. Drake had personally known the guy, and he didn't forget how mentally damaged his friend was from that day forward. So, filled with determination, Drake pulled out some rope and a baseball bat he had stored in an empty cupboard, and placed them in his backpack. Drake quickly got up from his hiding place, and starting to slowly move through the building.

Now five minutes had passed, and Frisk was starting to get worried again. **_He said that he would meet me out here, that he wouldn't be gone long. Where is he?_** Frisk then saw him in the window of the building, and he appeared to be sneaking towards something.

Drake looked down at his Micro Pulse-Scanner 3 (MP3) and saw that he was getting closer to his destination. "Okay, not far now," He whispered to himself. Suddenly, he heard the quick shuffling of feet, the sound of sneakers against tile. His eyes widened, and he quickly darted into the computer lab. As soon as he saw the bullies pass, he quietly opened the door, and looked down both ends of the hallway. He opened the door fully, and started making his way back towards the room he found. "It'll a miracle if Madam Security hasn't hidden the room behind a false wall or something." He says to himself. As he walks down the hall, he frowns to himself, and mutters, "Yep, she sure hid it alright. Well, looks like I'll have to try and remember where it was last time I found it." He walks back and forth down the hall, examining all of the walls, and saying "No this isn't where it is. Or maybe Icould just… " As he knocked on the wall, his hand tore through the wallpaper and he fell into a secret room. "Well, I guess that works too…" he muttered to himself. Then, through the corner of his eye, he saw the glimmer of light reflecting off of a long smooth surface. Drake's eyes widened with excitement and as he slowly got up and started to move towards it. "I thought that she would have gotten rid of it." He says shocked. "Oh, she is not going to be happy with me this time." He starts grinning wider, and his hand grips the handle, feeling as if this was fate. "At long last…" Drake says.

"Where is that idiot Drake now?" Hecox demanded Madam Security. She looks over more footage, and says "There! He's heading towards the top floor, or the kitchens! You might still be able to catch him." But by the time she had said this last thing, Hecox and his gang had already started sprinting down the halls. "Oh he won't last much longer out here in these halls. There's no way that Drake can escape. And when I get my hands on him, he is going to be in so much trouble for taking that!" She muttered to herself.

"I think that should be enough time for Frisk to get away from the orphanage." Drake says, looking at his watch. "Now all that's left…" Then he heard the shuffling of feet again, once again the sound of sneakers against tile. Drake smiled, and finished "Is to piss off authority." He walked out into the hallway, and turned to face the bullies sprinting towards him. Drake pulled out a small item that looked like a drone, no larger than a spider, and turned to face the window. As he placed the drone on the window, he plugged it into the MP3 and extended some spider-like arms from the sides of it, sticking it to the window. Seeing the light slowly change color from red, Drake turned around, ready to face the bullies.


	3. The Great(est) Escape (Plan)

He smiled and said "Good evening fine gentlemen. How may I take your order?" Hecox stopped and asked "What?" Drake replied"How would you sirs like to be pummeled? Knuckle sandwich, the special, Soccer kick? I'm not picky." Hecox laughed, and said "You really think that you can get away from me? We run this place, there's nowhere that you can hide from us! Especially since you disrespected me. After I'm done with you, I'll make your dumb sister's stupid blue and pink sweater become splotched with her own red blood." Drake stopped smiling. "What did you just say? I must have misheard you, because it sounded like you were threatening Frisk. But that would be stupid, right?" Hecox' smile grew even wider, and he said "Oh you heard me correctly alright. But what are you gonna do about it, huh? You can't do anything, because you're just a weak pacifist who's afraid to make a fist."

Drake felt even more determined now. He clenched his hand into a fist, and he felt an urge to grab the thing strapped to his back. Instead, he just reached for the baseball bat and said "You know, I've always wondered: Are you really as stupid as you look? Because you look pretty stupid. And it looks like I've finally gotten my answer today." Hecox stopped smiling. "Excuse me?" He said. "Are you calling me stupid?" Drake smiled, and replied "That's up for you to figure out, isn't it? Although, maybe I should make it easier for you. After all, you can't comprehend any questions that aren't multiple choice. So the answer is either A, yes, or B, no. That make it simpler for you?" James started clenching his fists. "Shut up. Now." Drake on the other hand, started to chuckle, and said "Or what, you'll pound my head in like a melon? You used that same threat on Ian the other day. I guess that as Birds always sing the same song, you aren't smart enough to come up with new threats." Hecox gritted his teeth, and his fists clenched tighter. "I said shut up!" Drake laughed even harder, and said "You honestly think that I'm afraid of you? Hah! Don't make me laugh. The only thing I'm afraid of is your breath, do you even brush your teeth? Have you ever heard of a toothbrush? What am I saying, of course you haven't, your brain only lets you learn about things that involve ways that you can beat someone up. It's beyond your mental capacity for you to know about personal hygiene."

At this point, Hecox was furious. "WHAT GOOD DO YOU THINK WILL COME OUT OF THIS?!?!" He screamed in rage. Drake looked directly into James' eyes, and gave him the smile that you would give to someone that you pitied. "Isn't it obvious, James?" He said calmly. "I've won. You can't harm me, or my sister for that matter. And I've spread hope through this entire orphanage, despite all that you've tried to do to me. No one is afraid of you, because I've given them the strength to be courageous in striving to do the right thing. In protecting all of those people, despite the threats, despite the pain, I've shown them that they don't need to be afraid." James looked even more confused, and screamed "SO THAT'S WHY YOU SAID ALL OF THIS?!? BECAUSE YOU'RE SO CONFIDENT IN YOUR ABILITIES THAT YOU ACTUALLY THINK YOU CAN ESCAPE?!?!?!" Drake turned back to face the window, found Frisk next to the tree the farthest away from the orphanage, and replied "Yep." Then, seeing that the light on the drone was finally at green, he added "And also, because I needed to stall for time so that this thing could charge up."

Drake then pulled out the MP3, and pulling on his earbuds, he pressed the big red button. Suddenly, a loud ringing filled everyone's ears, and literally bringing the bullies to their knees. As it flooded the entire orphanage, waking everyone up, drake somehow seemed to not notice the ringing, as he slowly walked towards James and hit him in the head with the baseball bat as the window shattered. At that exact moment, the ringing stopped, and the drone fell to the ground. Pulling the large rope out of his backpack, he quickly tied the rope to a doorknob, and gave himself a running start.

Frisk's eyes widened as she saw Drake being confronted by all of the bullies, and thought that it was all over. Then she saw Drake's expression change into a smile, and he appeared to be smack talking the bullies. As Frisk thought that it couldn't get any worse, Drake suddenly stopped smiling. **_Uh oh._** She thought to herself. A constant in her world was how Drake constantly smiled no matter what, unless one of two things happened. One, if the situation called for total seriousness. Or two, if somebody said something he didn't like, in which case it was usually something about Frisk. Then, after about 5 minutes had passed, she saw him turn back towards the window, smiling once more. Then, all at once, every single window in the orphanage shattered simultaneously as he hit James with a baseball bat, and she saw drake calmly tie a rope around a doorknob, and ran a few steps back. Her eyes widened even more, and she said out loud to no one "Oh no. He isn't going to..." but on these last words, Drake had sprinted directly at the window, and jumped out. Grabbing the rope, Drake swung down to the ground and started to sprint towards Frisk, a large grin spread out across his face. Then Frisk heard furious roars from in the orphanage. "What was that?" She asked. Drake didn't stop sprinting, and shouted back in reply, cackling madly as he did, "That was our cue to run!!"

Frisk started to chase after him, and looking back, saw all of the bullies chasing after them. She looked forward, and said "Yeah, I can see that. So was all of this part of your plan?" Drake replied "Not exactly, but it still worked nonetheless, right?" Frisk smiled and said "Yeah, you do have a point. And so does that thing you have hidden behind your backpack." Drake looked back at Frisk and said "I was wondering when someone would notice this old thing." "So why would a pacifist want that?" Frisk shouted, confused. Drake yelled back. "I already told you, I need it to defend myself with, or at least threaten to." Drake skidded to a halt, and turned around to see that the bullies had stopped and headed back to the orphanage. He smiled, and said triumphantly to Frisk "Come on, we'll be safer if we head closer to the city." Frisk followed him as they moved towards a single flickering lamp post on a street filled with buildings, only a few stories tall, and they suddenly stopped. Drake looked back at the orphanage, then back at Frisk, a large grin spread across his face, his eyes filling with tears of joy. "We made it!" He exclaimed triumphantly, hugging Frisk. "We actually made it! They can't reach us now! We're free!" Frisk looked at him, a true smile spreading across her face for the first time in 6 years, and she embraced her brother. Everything was, at least for the moment, going to be alright.


	4. Stay Determined!

"So what happens now?" Frisk asked her brother a few hours later. Drake looked at her, and said "You know, I didn't actually plan that far ahead. I was mainly focused on getting out of that horrible place. In hindsight, it was an extremely bad idea." Frisk looked at him, and said sarcastically "Really? You just now realized that?" Drake replied "I know, I know. It was stupid." Then he looked over, and his eyes set on Mt. Ebott. Frisk's eyes widened, and she said "No. You wouldn't." Drake looked back at her, and said "What choice do I have? We've only got enough food packed to feed one person, and we don't have enough money to provide for both of us." Frisk stared at him, and her eyes filled with tears. "Please, don't do it." She begged. "You know how dangerous it could be. Legends say that those who climb the mountain never return. I couldn't deal with losing you, too." Drake looked away, and said solemnly "I'm sorry. I have no choice." He started walking out of the alley where they were staying, and looked back at her. "Stay safe, for me." He smiled sadly, and then turned away and started to sprint. Frisk started to cry.

Drake rested against the side of the mountain, 20 minutes later, gasping for breath. He looked down at the village, and thought about his friends, or at least the people who acknowledged his existence without grimacing or scowling. Thought about his sister, Frisk. His fists clenched, and he started climbing even faster. Filled with determination, he climbed all the way to the top of the mountain, and stopped. He stared down into the abyss, slowly approaching it. "What is all of this?" Drake said to no one. He continued approaching, and stopped once he reached the edge. He thought that he saw some light at the bottom of it, and he slowly got up onto his feet. Suddenly, the ground beneath his feet broke under him, and he started to fall down the large hole. He felt his head slam against the side of the mountain, and his eyesight started to blur. He shook as his chest hit a jagged edge sticking out from the sides of the hole, and he felt a few bones break, his vision beginning to fade out. Then, he hit the bottom, and as he heard the sound like a gunshot, felt his right leg get crushed and broken beneath the rest of his body, Drake finally blacked out from all of the pain.

Sans the skeleton was very busy. If you count busy sleeping all day as being busy. Sans was enjoying having his regular break from his job as a sentry at his snowdin post. When suddenly, he jerked awake, his left eye glowing a bright light blue. "i've never felt that before. what was that? could it be… i have to check it out." Sans got up from his post, and started walking towards the large door, and thought if he should ask the lady behind the door about it, then decided against it. "it would be a skele-ton faster for me to use one of my shortcuts." he said out loud. And, with a snap of his fingers, he appeared at the entrance to the underground, and looked down. "well, what do we have here?" he wondered out loud, staring down at Drake's limp body in a puddle of blood. "i better get you checked up on, huh kid?" He said out loud as he picked up Drake, slung him over his shoulders. Sans then noticed it sticking out of the ground, its handle pointing upwards, the smooth edge gleaming from what little sunlight was shining through the hole in the mountain. He grabbed that too, and teleported away.

Drake started to stir. **_Ow, my head_** he thought to himself. **_Oof, scratch that. Make it my everything. Where am I? What happened to me?...And who are those people talking?_** Drake started to listen "S-so you just found them like that?" Someone asked. "Just, sprawled out across the ground?" Then someone replied "yeah. they were lying in a pool of blood, and were in pretty bad shape, so i took them to you. i'm not exactly the most helpful when it comes to injuries." "W-well, let's take a closer look at them. See better what happened to them." **_Well, that was enlightening. Kind of. Jeez, this headache though… it's killing me. What even happened to me?_** "S-so, let's see here. Th-they appear to have a mild concussion.." **_That would explain the headache I guess…_** "they also have a few broken ribs." **_Yup, I can feel those too._** "A-and their right leg is broken." **_Okay, now I'm really worried. And confused… But mostly confused. How am I still alive? With all of these injuries I've sustained, I should be dead!_** "jeez, this kid sure has been through a lot. that healing suit actually works, right?" **_Healing suit?_** "Y-yes sans. As you know, it connects to the wearer, and sends magical energy through the person's body." **_Um… did they just say 'Magical Energy?' Listening to this conversation is just giving me more questions without answers._** "and you gave the kid a bit of DT, right? to help them stay alive, or whatever?" **_DT?_** What's that? "Actually, I d-didn't have to. As you know, DT is like what gives them the will to live, to continue after experiencing something like this. B-but, they were already filled to the brink with it, so I assumed that I wouldn't have to." "huh. that's interesting."

 ** _Okay, maybe I should actually open my eyes, and take a look at my surroundings._**

Drake slowly opened one eye, and started to glance around the room. He found that he was inside of a small chamber, and was lying on a table hanging from the ceiling. He looked around a bit more, and saw what looked like a skeleton in a blue jacket, pink slippers, and black shorts, and a yellow lizard wearing glasses and a lab coat. **_Okay, that didn't help at all. Wait a minute… Where's my ninjato?_** Drake now snapped fully into focus. **_Okay. Now that I'm fully awake, time to analyze the situation. So it looks like I'm inside of some sort of lab, wearing a 'healing suit,' which is sending 'magical energy through my body,' something called 'DT' is also flowing through my body, and the last thing I remember is falling through a hole in Mt Ebott. Okay, I think I got it._** Drake opened his eyes fully, sat up slightly, and said to the Lizard and the Skeleton "Look doc, I'm already feeling UNDER THE WEATHER right now." The two turned to face him, and Drake finished "Saying all of this scientific stuff is just working me DOWN TO THE BONE."


	5. Question, Research, Hypothesis

Drake felt pain stab his body as he said these words, and groaned from it. "look kid." The skeleton said as he rushed to Drake's side. "while i would love to hear more of your amazing jokes, the doc probably wouldn't. you have-" "I know, a mild concussion, broken ribs, and a broken leg, right?" Drake cut him off. "I heard you talking. And I have a few questions." The skeleton looked at the lizard, who shrugged, and said "fire away, kid." Drake smiled, and said gratefully "Thank you. So, where to begin. Who are you guys? Where am I? How am I still alive? Where's my ninjato? And can I get some food?"

The skeleton tossed him a hot dog at these last words, and replied "i'm sans, she's my friend, dr alphys. you're currently in the doc's lab." As drake gratefully took a bite out of the hot dog, Alphys continued where sans left off. "Y-you're alive because sans found you almost immediately after you fell into the Underground, and brought you here. W-we put you into a healing suit, and you probably heard how it works. You also have something called Determination, flowing through your veins, and that gives you the will to live on. If you didn't have it, you would have been k-killed by the fall. As for your katana-" "It's a Ninjato," Drake interrupted, "it has a straight blade and is shorter than a katana." "Yeah, th-that, w-we put it in another room. S-sans could tell that it meant something to you when he saw that you fell with it. S-so we're just keeping it safe for you." As Drake finished his hot dog, he started to get up, and flinched at the pain in his leg. Sitting back down, sans said "sorry kid. i don't think that it would be a good idea to get up, you could damage your leg even more. that healing suit should finish dealing with the damage to your leg in about an hour." Drake sighed, and asked the last thing that was on his mind. "So, if you guys have this technology so superior to ours, then why did the humans win the war, and have you monsters trapped underground?" Alphys looked at him, and replied with "W-well, the main reason is that monsters aren't as powerful as humans, and don't have as much physical matter. While human SOULs persist after death for several years, monster SOULs shatter almost immediately after the host dies. After they won the war, they created a barrier that can only be exited by having a powerful SOUL, at least the power of a human and a monster SOUL."

Drake was confused. "Why are human SOULs more powerful?" Sans looked at him and said simply "determination." "Then why don't you guys give yourselves determination? If it's so powerful, wouldn't it make your SOULs stronger?" Alphys looked at him, horrified. "W-we already tried that." She said. "The SOUL needs to be strong enough on its own. B-but because we don't have enough physical matter, and our SOULs are made of mostly magic, the monster given determination will… T-their body will…. deteriorate. Melt." Drake looked at her, and felt deeply sorry. "Oh." He said. "I'm sorry, I didn't know." Alphys looked away, and replied "N-no, it's okay. We didn't know that it would happen either. And we gave so many monsters determination, they all started to melt, and th-then they started merging together. Creating one being from several." Drake was horrified. Then he had an idea. "Is there any way to make the monster's SOUL stronger that doesn't involve determination?" Sans looked at him, surprised, and replied "we don't know. we haven't tried that yet. but who would be willing to try it out for us, when so many monsters are still sending letters to the doc, asking where their families are?" Drake smiled slightly, and said "Maybe you should try it out on someone who already has a strong SOUL. A human perhaps?" Alphys looked at him, her eyes widening. "Y-you would be willing to do that for us? B-but you barely know us, why w-would you be willing to-" "Because you guys saved my life." Drake cut her off. "I owe you guys at least this."

A few hours had passed, and Drake's leg had healed. "Hey sans, could you pass me the wrench?" He asked. "sure drake." Sans replied. He tossed over a spare from where he was working, which Drake caught without even looking. "Thank you." He said absentmindedly, focused on the machine that they were building. "S-so how did you get so good at this?" Alphys asked. "I don't know, actually." Drake replied. "I just have a knack for it I guess. I once escaped from a building by shattering every window on the building using only an MP3, a Spider-Drone, some rope, and some good old smack talking." Sans looked over at him, and asked "when did you do that?" "Depends." Drake replied simply. "What time is it?" "11:45 in the morning." Alphys supplied. "8 hours and 45 minutes ago. I'll tell you guys the story if this works." "W-well, if you managed to do that, th-then I think that this will work." Drake and Sans stopped working and looked at each other. "Actually," Drake said, "With how smart you are, I think that you hardly need me here. You seem smart enough to do this on your own." Alphys blushed a bright red, and said "N-no, I can't do anything right. I'm just garbage." Drake rolled his eyes, and said "There you go again. You doubt yourself a LOT. And I see that you are capable and smart enough to do these things. I just have to know. Why do you doubt yourself, when you probably have the greatest mind in the underground?" Alphys blushed. "B-because I screwed up so badly during the determination experiments, and-and I constantly mess up in my everyday life, th-that I-I-" "That you worry about messing up even worse, so you always expect yourself to fail." Drake finished for her. "I've been there. And when we're done with this down here, I don't know what I'll do. But if you expect failure, you will always get failure. You need to learn to accept your past mistakes, and trust in your abilities to learn from them and move past them. Because you have potential to be great. You just need to believe in yourself." Alphys looked at him, and said gratefully. "Thank you. I think th-that I believe in myself a little bit more now." Drake smiled. "Glad I could help."Drake was exhausted. Wiping sweat from his forehead, he stepped back from the machine. "I think that should do it." He said to Alphys. "Sans, wake up." He said to the bag of bones lying on the floor, tapping him in the head. "You've been napping for 4 hours now. We finished the machine." Sans yawned, stretching, and said to Drake "sorry, I just normally don't work that much." Drake rolled his eyes, and replied "Sans, you helped work on the thing for a whole five minutes, then just said 'welp. time for break,' and fell asleep on the floor." Sans shrugged, and said "the hardest i work is to slack off, or sell hot dogs instead of keep watch for humans." Drake raised an eyebrow. "You do know that selling hot dogs also counts as work, right?" He asked sans. "So, that means that you slack off from work by doing work?" Drake started chuckling. Sans started chuckling, too. "yeah, i know it sounds dumb. but it's true." Alphys looked over at them, and asked "A-are you guys ready to test it? 'C-cause it's done charging." Drake stopped laughing, and looked over at alphys. "Okay. Let's do it."

 **A/N- Hey guys, I'm back. Just wanted to say hi, and ask how your day was. Good? Good. God, can you tell that I have no idea what to write for these things? Anyways, next chapter, you'll see what happens when they try to test the machine, and how Drake's life 'changes for the better.' Well, I feel like I've been taking up enough of your time already. So, please comment and/or review, and have a good day.**

 **-SF**


	6. Test, Analyze, Conclusion

"You know, this is actually pretty comfortable, considering that my body is currently connected to several different wires and scanners." Drake said to Alphys and sans. "Why is that, by the way?" Alphys didn't look at him directly, focused on tweaking the "SOUL STRENGTHENING SUIT," or SSS, but replied "It's t-to see the effects on your body and SOUL wh-when we activate the 'SOUL Energy Generator.' Y-you understand how it works, r-right?" Drake nodded, and asked "So, are we ready to start?" Alphys looked at him, shrugged, and sans replied "we're ready when you are, drake." Drake thought of what life might be like for him after this. He thought about how much he was helping the underground. He didn't feel any change. Thought about people on the surface liking him for once. He still wasn't fully convinced. Then, he thought of seeing Frisk again. Thought of embracing his sister again. He was filled with DETERMINATION. He spoke calmly, and with the utmost confidence and determination. "Activate it." Alphys looked at him. Trembling, she opened the exhaust ports, turned on the SOUL monitors, and placed her hand on the activation lever. "B-before we do this, I j-just want to let you know. The SSS will only continue sending the energy if you stay in the metal chair you're currently sitting in." Drake sighed. "I know." "A-and the machine will only send the energy if you don't try and detach the w-wires." "I know, Alphys." "Sorry, but there's still one more thing. The S-SOUL Energy Generator is connected straight to the CORE. That means that there will be several million volts of electricity powering the machine. That amount of electricity is… is… lethal. Are you ABSOLUTELY sure that you want to do this?" Drake sighed. "Let's just get this over with. We'll worry about the side effects after we're done." Alphys looked away. "O-okay." The last thing that Drake saw was Alphys flipping the switch before he felt his entire body surging with energy, before he blacked out.

"it looks like everything's working like we planned." Sans said to Alphys. Sans looked back at the monitor, and added "appears that they also passed out from it. is that bad?" Alphys payed attention to the screens, and replied "No, I-I don't think so. Th-they might h-have just passed out from their body not being used to all of the energy flowing through it, which would be normal. It c-could also be th-that they just are really tired, and n-need to rest. Either one could b-be the reason. J-just don't worry about it. I-i-i'm sure it's-" But at these last words, the monitor started beeping rapidly, and Drake started thrashing. Sans looked at alphys. "you were saying, doc?" Alphys was panicking now. "W-What's happening?!?" She asked.

"WARNING. POWER OVERLOADING. GENERATOR FAILING. CONTAINMENT BREACH IMMINENT." The machine screamed. Sans' eye started glowing again, the same light blue glow, and he started typing frantically on the control console keyboard. "What are you doing?!?" Alphys yelled the question at sans. Sans replied "trying to figure out if we can redirect the energy to a different location so as not to have this thing blow up!" as his eye kept flashing from that light blue to yellow and back over and over. "just have to… there!" Sans stepped back from the console, and the Machine shouted "REDIRECTING ENERGY." Sans' eye stopped glowing, and he looked back at alphys. "see? I got it all under contr-" but the machine interrupted "CONTAINMENT BREACH IN FIVE SECONDS." Sans turned around, his eye flashing again. "What?!?" Alphys exclaimed. "I thought that you redirected the energy! Why is it still going to explode?!?" Sans looked at the console, and his eyes widened. "i didn't redirect the energy being put into the machine, I redirected the energy needed to contain it!" "FOUR." "What do we do?!?" "THREE." "there's only one thing we can do. We have to get to safety." "TWO." "But what about drake?!" "there's no time! we have to go! now!" "ONE." "move!" And at these last words, the machine exploded, filling the entire lab with light, and a flash could be seen through the entire underground, enveloping Drake inside of it.

 ** _Ow, my head. Again. It seems worse than last time…. Is that Alphys and Sans?_**

"How's Drake?" "he's healing. not very fast, but still healing." "Th-that's good." "how is he even still alive?" "I-I-Well, he could- It could be- Oh, who am I kidding. I don't know." **_What happened to me? Why are Alphys and Sans talking like that about me?_** Drake felt that he was wearing the healing suit again. He felt something else flowing through his body, particularity around his eyes and hands, something unfamiliar. **_Better put that off till later. First things first…_** "What happened?" He asked Alphys and Sans aloud, sitting up on the examining table as he said it. Alphys looked at him, and back at sans, then back at him, and replied "Well, first you blacked out, which I have some theories about. Then, the machine exploded. Although, it kind of worked, just not in the way we were expecting." Drake was confused. "What do you mean?" He inquired. Alphys started sweating. "It uhh- It transformed- It kind of-" "it turned you into a magic skeleton, like me." Sans finished for her. Drake's eyes widened, and he felt the unfamiliar energy flare. "What?!?" He exclaimed, throwing himself up with his hands. Suddenly, a white heart appeared in front of Sans, started glowing blue, and was slammed into the ground with Sans. Drake felt a surge of pain run through his bod- bones, and he flinched slightly, losing his balance and falling slightly. Alphys screamed, and Sans' left eye suddenly flashed a light blue color. "kid! calm down! you don't know how to use your magic yet!" He shouted. Drake looked down at his hands, which were encased in blue flames. He took a few deep breaths, and sat back down. Slowly, sans got back onto his feet. As Drake felt the energy lessen, he asked sans "So how DO I control this magic? You seem to understand it well." Sans let his eyes go back to normal, and replied. "just be patient. first, you need to rest, and i don't think that examining table will be very comfy. just let me make a quick call, first." Sans pulled a strange looking cell phone out of his jacket pocket, and dialed a number.

 **A/N- Hey guys! I'm wondering, who do you guys think Sans is calling? What do you think he'll say? Make sure to comment and/or review, and tell me your thoughts. Anyways, hope you guys enjoy the rest of this story, and have a good day.**

 **-SF**


	7. Goodbye, Drake! Hello, Corsiva!

Back in snowdin town, Papyrus was busy trying to make up for his brother, Sans' laziness. "HE ALWAYS LEAVES HIS POST LIKE THIS…" Papyrus muttered to himself. "MAYBE HE'S BACK AT HOME, FINALLY PICKING UP HIS SOCK! HE MIGHT HAVE FINALLY TAKEN MY ADVICE! NYEHEHEHEHEH!!!" He cackled. Walking back to his house, he greeted all of the normal patrons of Snowdin Town. But stepping inside his cozy home, he saw that sans was still nowhere to be found. "DARN." He said sadly. Then suddenly, his phone started ringing. Looking at it, he saw that it was indeed sans calling him, and he answered the phone. "SANS!" he said through the dial. "hey paps. how's it going?" Sans said. "WHY AREN'T YOU AT YOUR POST?!? AND WHY HAVEN'T YOU PICKED UP YOUR SOCK YET?!?" He shouted. "sorry bro, got caught up with something. got a surprise for you when i come home." "REALLY? A SURPRISE? WHAT IS IT?" "I'm pretty sure that wouldn't make it a surprise." Someone else said in the background. "WHO WAS THAT? DID YOU MAKE A NEW FRIEND? CAN I MEET THEM?" "that's the surprise, papyrus. just wait, i'll be there in a bit." "GOODBYE!" "see ya."

"well, that went well." Sans said to drake, putting the phone down. "so, my brother papyrus is going to be waiting for us when we get back to my house. so let's not keep him waiting for too long. before we go, we need a new identity for you. i've got an idea, and i need you to agree with it before we go." Drake was confused. "Why do we need to make a false identity for me?" "well, let me put it this way. if paps learned that you were a human, he'd bombard you with awful puzzles and try to capture you. just let him get to know you before you tell him, okay?" Drake shrugged. "Okay." Sans clapped his hands together. "great. first things first, we need a good cover up story. so, i'm going to tell papyrus that you're our new adoptive brother, which i will stay true to, bro." Drake smiled. "Great. Thanks sans." "...aaaaand now you need a new name. got any ideas?" Drake thought hard for a few seconds, before shrugging. Sans gave a small sigh, and scratched his chin, before pulling out a book off of one of the shelves. "say something." He gave the order to drake in a casual way, more of a request than anything. "Why do I have to do this?" Drake asked him. Automatically, sans started searching through the book, before pointing to a name. Drake moved around to look at the word he was pointing at. "Corsiva?" He asked, before pausing to think. "…I like it." Sans smiled bigger. "great. you'll fit right in. ready to go, bro?" Corsiva smiled. "Let's go. See you later, Alphys!" Alphys smiled slightly. "B-b-bye guys." She replied. And with that, Sans and Corsiva walked out of her lab, and went back to snowdin.

When they got back to sans' and papyrus' house, it was much darker out. A note on the door told them that papyrus was taking cooking lessons with undyne, head of the royal guard, and he would be back in a bit. A side note also said "SANS, IF YOU'RE READING THIS, PICK UP YOUR SOCK!!!! NYEH HEH HEH, PAPYRUS." Corsiva grinned as he read this last note. Sans looked exactly the same. "well, if he's at undyne's place, we should probably go there too." sans said to corsiva. "undyne lives in waterfall, which we passed on our way back here." Corsiva sighed, and turned around, but sans stopped him. "now might be a good time to teach you some of the magic i can do." Corsiva was interested. "Really?" He asked sans enthusiastically. "Now? Awesome! What are we going to do?" sans replied "i call them shortcuts. you might call it teleportation, but it doesn't really matter. how you do it is you make your eyes glow because you're just a beginner, which i'll explain how to do in just a second, focus directly where you want to go, and snap your fingers." Corsiva nodded, and started focusing on undyne's house in waterfall. "So how do I make my eyes glow?" He asked sans. "you need to pull energy directly from your SOUL, which can put a bit of a strain on you. it's a bit exhausting to do your magic, but only when done for an extended period of time." Corsiva nodded, and willingly did as sans told. He felt the same energy as before, but this time he knew what it was. "Okay. I think I've…" and at these last words, he snapped his fingers, and felt the rush of instant teleportation as he was transported somewhere else. "Got it!" He finished.

Just as he reappeared in front of Undyne's house, he felt a bigger surge of pain, as if his very SOUL were being damaged. His knees buckled from the pain, and he found himself on the ground. Sans teleported in, and quickly went to his side to help him. "are you okay?" He asked. Corsiva gritted his teeth, and replied "Yeah. Just give me a second. What was that?" Sans looked extremely worried. "i was afraid of this. when the machine exploded, it changed your SOUL, as you know. however, your SOUL was not ready for the change in its essence, and as such, it was damaged in the explosion. at least we know that it does physically hurt you when using too much magic. now we know that you need to be healed somehow." Corsiva got up, and, gripping his shoulder, asked sans "How can I see my SOUL? Maybe that would give a bit of clarity on how damaged it actually is." Sans sighed. "what you do is you pull more magical energy directly from your SOUL, but instead of shaping and forming that energy into your magic, you let it flow throughout your entire body until it shows your SOUL in a more physical manner." Corsiva followed sans' instructions, and showed sans his SOUL. What they saw surprised Corsiva. It looked like a heart, one of the ones that you would draw when you were younger, but it was different. It was completely white, but it had an extra outside layer that was the color red, so that it looked like two hearts were drawn on top of each other. It appeared to have a few cracks going down the center of it, almost splitting it in half if the cracks continued a few more centimeters. Sans and Corsiva looked at each other for a second. "This is bad." Corsiva said. "i agree. we need to fix this as soon as possible." Sans replied. Then, they heard something that made them both jump. "NGAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"What was that?!?" Corsiva asked sans, shocked. Sans merely shrugged, and replied "it's just undyne expressing herself through cooking again." Corsiva and Sans started walking towards undyne's house again. "So, why did that shout sound like Undyne was trying to destroy a wall with a battering ram?" Sans didn't look at him, but still replied "she's very violent. i mean, she is the captain of the royal guard, known as 'undyne the undying,' 'spear of justice,' and many other nicknames. so, she uses that shout for a lot of things." "Why's she called 'Spear' of Justice?" But his question was answered almost automatically after, as she shouted "NGAHHH!" again, and dozens of light blue glowing spears shot through the roof of her house. "Lovely. This should be fun!" Corsiva said. Corsiva was about to knock on her door, when Sans held his hand back. "she's not the type of person that you can just interrupt her cooking by knocking on the door." He told Corsiva. "she prefers if you knock the whole door down instead. shows that you got good fighting spirit. so i'm going to teach you how to use what i call a 'gaster blaster.' It's a good weapon that acts as an entire living entity, that shoots out a sort of laser. you once again pull magical energy from your SOUL, and use every ounce of willpower to channel it into a weapon." Corsiva followed sans' instructions one more time, and summoned a large skull, or as sans had called it, a gaster blaster, and waited for his next command. "you need to focus on what you want to aim it at, and you need to be exact with it. no shortcuts this time. if you want, you can hold out your hand and point at the target. just make sure if you do that, you have to point with the palm of your hand." Corsiva aimed at the door, and he felt his eyes start to glow again. "then, you just clench your hand into a fist if you're holding out your hand, and fire!" And on this last word, Corsiva blasted the door down.

Undyne and Papyrus turned around just as Corsiva fell to the ground from pain again. Sans went to his side again, while Papyrus and Undyne stared at him in confusion. Then, with a quick "NYEH!" papyrus went to help Corsiva too. "ARE YOU OKAY?" he asked Corsiva. Corsiva took a few deep breaths, and replied "I'm fine. Just give me a few minutes." Papyrus looked instantly relieved on these last words. "WHO ARE YOU?" he asked Corsiva after a few seconds. "Yeah, I've been wondering the same thing." Undyne said in agreement. "And who do you think you are, doing that to my door?!" Corsiva looked up at her, and saw her clearly now. She was wearing a black tank top and jeans, with dark red hair that appeared to be put into a ponytail. That was the only normal thing about her.

She had an eyepatch over her left eye, her other eye was completely yellow with a black slit for a pupil, her yellow teeth were jagged, she had completely blue scaled skin, she had fins on the sides of her head like a fish, and she was holding a light blue spear. "Sorry," He started, but Undyne interrupted "You didn't even destroy the entire door!!!" Corsiva started to chuckle, a smile returning to his face. "I'm Corsiva. Nice to meet you both." Sans continued for him. "he's our new adoptive brother, papyrus." Undyne looked extremely surprised, her mouth hanging open, and papyrus mirrored her expression. Then suddenly, he hugged Corsiva. "NYEH! A NEW BROTHER! THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!" He said. Corsiva grinned, and hugged papyrus back. "Glad to see I'm welcome." He said jokingly. "You know, it's funny. From what I hear about you Undyne, you appear to be the SPEARHEAD OF HOPE for the underground." Undyne and Sans both started laughing, but Papyrus on the other hand looked disgusted. "SANS!!!" He shouted suddenly. Through his chuckles, sans asked "yeah bro?" "YOU'RE BEING A BAD INFLUENCE!!! YOU'VE ALREADY CORRUPTED NEW BROTHER!!!" Sans laughed even harder. "sorry bro." He said lazily. "welp, time to go." Corsiva looked at Undyne one more time, and shouted before walking out the door "Talk to you later, Undyne!" Undyne grinned and shouted back "See ya, punk!"

 **A/N- Hey guys, it's me again. I realize that these chapters are being released very frequently; and there's a very good reason for that: I never write these things on this website. I have separate google docs of these things, and I write them there. Also, in case you were wondering why Sans pointed to the name Corsiva in a book, it's a book of fonts and serifs. According to a very talented artist named Zarla S or something like that, magical skeletons (like sans, Papyrus, and in this case, Corsiva) can read the words people are saying aloud, and can see the different fonts and serifs, all of which they understand. Also, sorry for the long chapter and authors note. Anyways, as always, make sure to comment and/or review, and if you feel like it, you can share with your friends I guess. Have a good day.**

 **-SF**


	8. Puns and Promises

A week had passed since Corsiva had arrived in the underground, and now nearly everyone in Snowdin Town knew him. Sans had stayed true to what he said about Corsiva being the newest member of the skelebros, and Corsiva had really felt like he belonged somewhere finally. During the day, Corsiva was yet another sentry in Snowdin town. And in waterfall. And in hotland. And in hotland again. He seemed completely happy during the day. But at night, he was secretly being healed by Sans and papyrus. Papyrus now knew about his 'condition,' and was doing everything he could to help. Sans was trying too. So his life consisted of wearing a healing suit under his regular clothes, which consisted of a black dress shirt with a white delta rune on the back of it, a pair of dress shoes, and black pants during the day, and being healed manually by his new family at night. It wasn't all bad, though. To keep his mind off his troubles, he focused on the fact that he would soon be learning how to use his new magic, as soon as he was healed fully. He had been hanging out with Undyne every other day, every day that papyrus wasn't training or having a cooking lesson, and had slowly begun to become good friends with her, so much that he shared his secret with her. He was helping Dr Alphys with her work, and had been giving her some advice with some of her projects. He was hanging out with a ghost who had a passion for making mix tapes, lying around and feeling like garbage, named Napstablook, who had some confidence problems like Alphys. He had met the king of the underground, Asgore, who seemed nice enough. He was even hanging out with Mettaton, a rectangular robot with a wheel for legs, and was starring on his shows as a guest appearance, such as MTT news, MTT cooking, and a few quiz shows.

But Corsiva wasn't totally happy. He missed the surface, with the stars at night, the sun, and the beach. He missed feeling the grass in the morning, and running down the streets of the city. But above all else, he missed Frisk. Deep down, he was still Drake Addams, a human child who fell into the underground, and that person just wanted to be with his sister. At the same time, he didn't want Frisk to see him. He was afraid that she wouldn't recognize him anymore if she saw him how he was now. When he slept, he had nightmares about seeing Frisk hurt, and it being his fault because he wasn't there to protect her. He saw Sans and Papyrus dead at his feet, and Frisk laying on the ground next to them. But he couldn't tell anyone about it. They might reject him. No one would understand. So, he found ways to distract himself. He would purposefully keep himself up, working on projects to help out dr Alphys when sans was asleep and Papyrus was playing with his action figures. He would set goals for himself to keep him moving till the next day. He even built a miniature laboratory under both the house and Sans' workshop that could be entered through an elevator platform he built into the chimney and fireplace. He also built the chimney and fake fireplace.

Then, one day, sans took Corsiva to a humongous door at the edge of Snowdin Forest. On the way there, they had a very long discussion about how much importance awful puzzles had in their society. "I mean, if you want to get technical, the awful puzzles that are ironically riddled through almost the entire underground are only there because they have become a tradition since the times when monsters would put them up as traps to stop any humans who came through, but their meaning has just been forgotten as time passed. As their meaning was forgotten, people just saw them as fun games, something to do in your spare time, and they became like a tradition. A tradition is extremely important in society, Sans." Sans just shrugged, and replied "i agree with you, bro. but i'm just wondering, do we really need to make them part of our daily routine? it seems to me that if something is a tradition, it isn't repeated every single day." Corsiva shrugged back at him, and asked him a question in reply. "Do you need to slack off from work and take 4 hour breaks every single day?" Sans looked away, and replied "touché. anyways, here we are."

Corsiva stared at the large door, then back at sans. "Is this where you always go when you disappear from your snowdin post? 'Cause I've been wondering." Sans didn't look back at him, but still replied "yep. i love coming here." Then he suddenly knocked on the door, and said "knock knock." To Corsiva's surprise, a woman's voice answered from the other side of the door "Who's there?" sans grinned at Corsiva, and said back "correct." The woman asked sans "Correct who?" "correcTION." On these words, they both started laughing. Corsiva couldn't help but smile, and start to chuckle. Sans stopped laughing, and started to be more casual. "how's it going?" he asked the woman. "I am fine, sans. Thank you for asking." "so, i've brought someone with me today. i think you're going to like them." Corsiva cleared his throat, and said through the door "Hi. I'm Corsiva. Sorry if my voice is a little raspy, I'm really tired right now. I can't sleep. I'm a skeleton, after all. Do you have any idea how hard it is to sleep when you don't have any eyes to close?" At these last words, he heard the woman start to chuckle. "Anyway," he continued, "My brother Papyrus started to cook more than just spaghetti. He realized all of the Pastabilities." He heard her start laughing harder. "I'm really scraping the bottom of the barrel, here. It takes a Skele-ton of work to make these jokes. I'm kind of Bone Dry right now. So, uh, sorry."

The woman was howling by now. "You really are like your brother, Corsiva." She said through her laughs. Corsiva grinned. "Thanks. You're as good an audience as Fr-" But he stopped himself before finishing it. "Corsiva?" The woman asked. "Are you alright?" She sounded really concerned. "bro, you ok?" Sans asked as well. "you're kind of scaring me here." Corsiva sank to the ground, his back leaning against the door. "I'm fine." He told them both. "Really, I am. Thanks for asking." Corsiva got up, and his mind kept coming back to Frisk. "Hey, I heard from sans that you had him promise to protect any human who comes through the door, right?" Sans nodded, and the woman replied "Yes, I did." Corsiva continued. "So, I'd like for you to promise something for me, please. I'm already going to protect the child should they come through this door, you don't need to worry about that. But if you do see a human, could you please tell me about them? What they look like, how they behave? Please." There was a long pause, then finally, the woman replied "I promise." Corsiva sighed. "Thanks. That really means alot to me." Corsiva checked his watch. "Sorry to cut this short," He apologized to the woman, "But we've gotta get going. Papyrus will be expecting us by now, sans." "Goodbye, Corsiva." The woman said through the door. "It was nice to meet you." Corsiva smiled again. "Thanks, it was nice to meet you, too."

 **A/N- That's right, the goat mom is in the house! In all honesty, I put this here mostly for fun when I first wrote it, but now it kind of actually has some plot significance??? I'll explain later. Anyways, as always, if you enjoyed, make sure to comment and/or review. If you really liked this story, make sure to share it with your friends, see if they like it. Have a good day!**

 **-SF**


	9. Training

3 weeks had passed, and Corsiva was finally done healing. Things were going good for him. He was hanging out with Undyne and Napstablook, he was getting to be good friends with the woman through the door, He was coming close to making a scientific breakthrough with alphys. He met a strange talking flower that papyrus had become friends with, who called themselves "Flowey the Flower," who Corsiva quickly realized wasn't who they were pretending to be. And best of all, sans was finally going to teach him how to use their magic. To make sure that they didn't destroy anything important, Alphys had them use a simulator that transported their SOULs into a virtual world that would instantly repair itself after sustaining any damage. "So," Corsiva asked sans, "What's first?" Sans looked at him, and said "the best way for you to learn is through gaining experience with it. first, i'm going to teach you how to use bone attacks, seeing as you've pretty much mastered Gaster Blasters and Blue Magic." Corsiva nodded, eager to continue. "there are three types of bone attacks that we can use: regular, blue, and orange. from there, you can decide what size the bones will be. this is an attack that doesn't require too much SOUL power to use." Corsiva held out his hand to experiment, and just as he held it out, a column of light blue bones encased sans, and sans froze in place.

"Sorry!! I didn't know that it would work like that! How do I make them disappear?" He shouted at sans. Sans stayed non moving still, and replied "just think 'disappear,' and they'll do just that." Corsiva commanded the bones to leave, and sans finally started moving again. "maybe i should've explained them a bit better. blue attacks will only hurt you if you're moving through them, so you need to stay still when touching those. orange attacks are the complete opposite. regular attacks will harm you if you touch them at all. the regular attacks are white. the colors don't apply to undyne's attacks, and her attack colors have different meanings." Corsiva took all of this in, and nodded at sans. "well, it looks like you already know how to use bone attacks, so let's get more complex. next up is what i like to call 'Karmic Retribution.' whenever an average attack hits someone's SOUL, the attack will disappear, and for a few seconds their SOUL will be invulnerable to other attacks. when applying Karmic retribution, or KR, they will be damaged over time, depending on how long their SOUL touched the attack, and the power of the KR is also dependent on the person's EXP and LOVE."

Corsiva was confused. "EXP?" He asked sans. "LOVE? What does that mean?" Sans sighed, and his pupils completely disappeared. He answered with utmost seriousness, and Corsiva could read that he was speaking with proper capitalization for once. "What's EXP? It's an acronym. It stands for 'execution points.' A way of quantifying the pain you have inflicted on others. When you kill someone, your EXP increases. When you have enough EXP, your LOVE increases. LOVE, too, is an acronym. It stands for 'Level of Violence.' A way of measuring someone's capacity to hurt. The more you kill, the easier it becomes to distance yourself. The more you distance yourself, the less you will hurt. The more easily you can bring yourself to hurt others." Corsiva stayed silent, and he felt a shiver run down his spine. Then, he found his voice again. "So, when using Karmic Retribution on someone, the more EXP they have, and the higher amount of LOVE they have, the more powerful the KR will be against them?" He asked. Sans' eyes returned back to normal, and he replied "yep. looks like you got it. Now, there are 20 individual Levels of Violence, 1 being the weakest level, and 20 being the most powerful. as neither of us have killed anyone, we both have 0 EXP and are at LV 1. the higher your Level, the more powerful your SOUL is. KR can be used against them in this way. KR applies to all attacks when active, so our gaster blasters can be extremely powerful when we fight if we use KR. to activate it, you just need to think about it." Corsiva did this, and automatically felt a surge of energy spread through his body. "now, because we don't want to hurt either of us, we're going to use computer generated enemies to practice on." Sans told Corsiva.

Corsiva was even more confused than he was before. "Why am I practicing with CGEs? It seems that because I'm less skilled than you, my attacks would barely hurt you, as you're also at LV 1." Sans sighed, and replied "because my SOUL is particularly weak, even one attack, no matter how powerful, would kill me instantly. with the more level's you increase, your stats increase with it. your stats are basically how many hit points you can take before you die, how powerful your attacks are, and how high your defense is. my SOUL is extremely weak, and my base stat for everything is 1. so, i always use KR when fighting anyone, because otherwise my attacks would do practically no damage whatsoever." Corsiva nodded, and just as he did, 20 CGE's appeared before them. They all had Different LV's from 1 to 20, and their HP went from 20 to 99. To try and save time, Corsiva summoned one big gaster blaster to get them all at once.

What shocked him was that he destroyed nearly all of them. Continuing forward, Corsiva just sent some bones at the few remaining, and in under 5 seconds, all of the CGE's were gone. Looking behind him, sans was stunned. His mouth hanging open, he slowly walked over to Corsiva, and asked "how did you deal that much damage? you're only level 1!" Then, Alphys' voice echoed out through the entire room. "Y-yeah, i'd like to know th-that, too." Corsiva showed them both his SOUL, and from there, they started viewing his stats. "Let's see here…" Corsiva started, looking closely. "It says I'm at LV: 1/20…but the rest of the stats are different. These stats say that my HP has a base stat of 130, my ATK is at 100, and my DEF is at 170. But that doesn't match the average stat level at all!" "I-it appears th-that- that your SOUL is as powerful as if a monster absorbed a human's S-SOUL. H-how that is p-p-possible is beyond me, b-but still, here we are." Corsiva was amazed. "What does this mean?" Sans looked at him, and replied shortly "i don't know."

A few months later, Corsiva went over to visit Undyne again, this time on his request. Knocking on her door, he found that he was answered almost immediately by Undyne. "Hey Corsiva. How are you?" Corsiva smiled and entered, answering "Pretty good, thanks for asking." Undyne closed the door behind him and sat down. "So, what did ya want to talk about?" She asked Corsiva, who set his Ninjato leaning against the wall, and sat down. "I heard from sans that you're training Papyrus to be in the royal guard." Undyne nodded, and said "Yeah, I am. What about it?" Corsiva leaned forward and replied: "From what I've heard, you don't really think that Papyrus should be a part of the royal guard, right?" Undyne sighed. "Yeah. He's just too nice to hurt anyone, even if they're the worst person in the world." Corsiva leaned back in his chair, and asked "Do you know what might be even cooler to Papyrus than him being put in the royal guard?" Undyne shook her head, and replied "No. What would it be?" Corsiva answered simply "His brother being put in it." Undyne looked up at him. Corsiva finally asked "So, will you train me to be part of the royal guard?" Undyne grinned widely, and replied: "Sure."

 **A/N- I think that's a good place to stop, don't you? Sorry I haven't posted as frequently, I just have a lot of schoolwork to do, and not a lot of time to do it. Man, High School sucks! Anyways, if you enjoyed this (for reasons I don't understand), feel free to comment and/or review, and if you really feel like it, you can share this story with your friends I guess. Also, I have my own YouTube channel. I post even less frequently there than I do here, but I'm working on it. It's a gaming channel, with the occasional random thing I feel like posting that day. Just search up the name "SpiderFlash 1273" on YouTube, and you should find me. I think my most recent video, at this time, is a Spider-Man PS4 gameplay commentary walkthrough thing. Anyways, I hope you have a good day, and I'll see you later!**

 **-SF**


	10. Birthday Surprises

A good 4 years had passed since Drake climbed Mt Ebott, and things weren't any better for Frisk. While she missed her brother every day, this day was the worst for her. It was the anniversary of the day they escaped the orphanage, and he left to climb Mt Ebott, and everyone knew it. Since his escape from the orphanage, his tale had become legend in the city, and because of this, Frisk couldn't escape this fact no matter how hard she tried. As she sat by herself inside the local pizza place, she started reminiscing about the times that she and drake would come to this very restaurant, just chatting and eating pepperoni pizza, she started to smile. She went up to the counter and ordered the Addams Special, named that way because of her brother. Sitting back down at her table, she whispered to herself "Happy birthday, Drake. I miss you."

Corsiva's alarm clock was going off, playing the STAR WARS theme loudly in the spot where his ear used to be. As he went to turn it off, he set a mental note for which Movie theme to set it as next month. He put on some clothes and walked out of his room, to find a plate of spaghetti sitting outside of his door, with a note attached to it. The note read "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BROTHER! NYEH HEH HEH, PAPYRUS." Smiling at the note and spaghetti, he took a big bite. He nearly gagged on it. No, that's a lie, he actually DID gag. Taking out a piece of paper, he quickly put a note right next to the original. It read "Thanks for the spaghetti, Papyrus. Might need a bit more tomato in the sauce, and the noodles were slightly undercooked, but it was still really good. Your brother, Corsiva." Walking downstairs, he checked the clock again, which read that it was 6:00 in the morning, and he remembered that he had a meeting with undyne in about 2 hours. He started to preheat the oven, and began preparing a pizza to bring with him.

Frisk was eating a slice of pepperoni pizza out in the park, not caring about the people staring at her. She bit into the slice, wondering about what the rest of the day would hold for her. In the past few years, something interesting would always happen on this day. Once, she was cornered by the bullies from the orphanage, and only escaped unharmed because she managed to talk enough that they got distracted, giving her opportunity to run away. Then another year, a biography of Drake was released to the public, a book that she allowed and which she helped to create. Just last year, she found that they had created the "Addams Special" that she was eating at that very moment. So what was to come this year? And for some reason, she kept thinking about Mt Ebott. A small part of her wanted to believe that her brother was still alive, but if that was true, then where was he? At that moment, she realized what she had to do.

"So, how've you been, Undyne?" Corsiva asked. Undyne answered "I've been good, thanks for asking. Happy birthday, by the way. 16, huh?" Corsiva smiled, and took a sip of the tea Undyne made for him. "Yep, thanks. Papyrus left me some spaghetti outside my door when I woke up." Undyne grinned, and said "Yeah, it's pretty much the only thing he cooks. But, uh, he's not very good at it." Corsiva replied "I noticed." They both sat in silence. Corsiva cleared his throat, and asked "So, any announcements? Anything big going on recently?" Undyne merely shrugged and said "Nah, not really. Although, I do have a surprise for you." She got to her feet, and they went to Alphys' lab in hotland, knocking on the door. Alphys answered after 5 seconds, and nearly fainted when she saw who it was. "Oh! H-h-hi guys! What are you d-doing here?" She asked them. "I'd like to show Corsiva the surprise, Alphys." Undyne answered. Alphys nodded, and beckoned then inside. "It's just over here." They walked forward a bit, and then a wall shifted, revealing something truly surprising. Corsiva started at it, and analyzed what it was. It appeared to be a healing suit that had been modified into armor, with some parts glowing red, on the front of the torso the delta rune glowed red as well, with a utility belt that held some of the inventions that Corsiva and Alphys had created. Next to the armor was Corsiva's Ninjato, and lying on top of the armor was a helmet that resembled a Gaster Blaster, with the eyes and mouth glowing red. Corsiva smiled, and Undyne said behind him "Welcome to the royal guard, Corsiva."

Frisk took one last look at the pizzeria, not wanting yet to go. But she knew that she had to, it just seemed like fate. Looking at the clock, she saw that it was 9:00, and deciding to waste no more time, she set off towards Mt Ebott. She was filled with determination. When she finally made it to the top, she saw an enormous hole in the center of it, and asked herself, "Is this the reason no one ever returns from the mountain?" But before she could do anything else, she felt the ground below her feet start to break, and suddenly she was falling. She couldn't do anything, she couldn't call out for help, she could only stare as the ground below her got closer and closer. As it continued to get closer, she noticed a pile of Golden Flowers that lay beneath her. She hoped, and prayed, that maybe, just maybe, the Flowers would break her fall. Then, she landed in the flower patch.

Corsiva was hanging out with Sans at home, when he suddenly felt something within his SOUL, and his eyes suddenly started glowing red. "What was that?" He asked sans, while gripping onto the sides of the kitchen counter. Sans was just as startled as Corsiva, and his left eye was glowing cyan. He replied "i haven't felt like that since the day you arrived." Corsiva looked up, and was confused. "But that doesn't make any sense… wait. If the last time you felt that was when I fell, then that must mean…" and with a gasp, he sprinted out, through the forest, and towards the large door. Sans followed close behind, and when they got to the door, Corsiva knocked frantically. But nobody came. "Where could she be?" He asked sans, who shrugged. "she could just be sleeping or something, or she could be occupied with something else." After waiting for five minutes, the lady answered them. "Hello, how are you two?" Corsiva calmed down, and replied "Pretty good, pretty good." The woman continued "So, a human fell into the ruins just a bit ago. I left them in a safe room a few minutes ago, so I could run some errands." Corsiva pushed forward. "What did they look like?" He asked. The woman thought for a bit, but eventually replied "They appeared to be female, with brown hair and eyes, and they have a blue and pink striped sweater." Corsiva's eyes widened, and he sunk to the ground. "Oh my god." He whispered to himself. "She came. After all this time, she came." He started to smile, as sans looked down at him. "you good bro?" Sans asked, worried. "I'm fine." He replied, and he stood up. "Thanks for telling me, lady." The woman replied through the door "You're very welcome, Corsiva. Have a good day." Corsiva replied "Thanks, you too." Corsiva started walking home, and sans followed behind him, wondering what was going on.

 **A/N - God, I really hate high school. It makes keeping a consistent schedule for anything impossible. Recording, writing this, sleep, you name it, high school makes your chances of keeping that schedule consistent the same as the chances of Half Life 3 coming out, Marvel and DC doing another crossover in the comics and/or movies, and some guy building a time machine and stopping the JFK assassination whilst simultaneously making sure that Hitler becomes a professional artist and keeping Ryan Reynolds from ever helping to create a Green Lantern Movie. Oh well. Make sure to review and/or comment, I hope you enjoyed, and as always, have a good day!**

 **-SF**


	11. Just Another Brotherly Chat!

Corsiva was busy pacing in his lab, wondering what was going to happen. He sat down at his computer, and started to view the cameras that Alphys placed through the underground, which Corsiva had just finished hacking into. He quickly found the person he was looking for, in the camera just outside of the door to The ruins. There she was, looking exactly like Corsiva remembered her. She appeared to be wielding a stick as a weapon. Corsiva smiled to himself, and whispered "Frisk." He suddenly got a text message from Undyne. It read ROYAL GUARD MEETING IN 5 MINUTES. MEET AT ENTRANCE TO HOTLAND, DRAMATIC CRAG. Corsiva turned around to look at the armor alphys made for him, still in awe about the fact that it was real. Smile fading, he said to himself "Well, no time like the present."

Corsiva found Undyne and the rest of the royal guard exactly where the message said. When he walked up to them, the canine unit all came over, confused, and started sniffing him. "Who is this?" Dogamy asked. "(Are they new?)" Dogaressa wondered aloud. "Where are they?" Doggo asked the rest of them. He could only see things that were moving, after all. Greater Dog just barked while Lesser Dog's neck extended beyond comprehension. RG-01 and 02 were talking amongst themselves, oblivious to the world. "Listen up!" Undyne shouted suddenly, and everyone turned to look at her. "First matter of business today, we have a new member with us. I'm sure you all know Corsiva, so we're just going to move on to stations for today. Canine Unit, you're Snowdin forest. 01 and 02, you guys will be stationed in hotland. I'll handle waterfall, as usual. Corsiva, since you're new, you'll be- you look like you need to say something?" Everyone looked over at Corsiva. "I was just going to say that I've seen, via Alphys' cameras, that a human recently entered Snowdin forest." Everyone's eyes widened, and Corsiva continued "If my calculations are correct, they should currently be talking to Sans and Papyrus." Undyne's face still looked shocked. "New plan. 01 and 02, make sure that nobody, and I do mean NOBODY, used the elevator at the entrance to Hotland. Corsiva, you no longer have a station. Just follow that human!" Corsiva nodded. Undyne had a determined look on her face. "All right troops. MOVE OUT!" She shouted finally, and people started to move to their stations. Corsiva followed but was stopped by Undyne. "Listen, Corsiva," Undyne started, "you used to be human at one point, so you probably know this human. So, is there anything that I should know about the human?" Corsiva nodded, and answered "She's a pacifist, and only resorts to violence when absolutely necessary." Undyne nodded and started to walk away. "They're also my sister." Corsiva added. Undyne stopped in her tracks, and turned around to look at him, with an expression of pity on her face. "I'm sorry." She said. "I can at least try to make it fair for them. But I need to focus on the betterment of our people, too." Corsiva nodded sadly. "Thanks, Undyne. I'll give constant reports." And just like that, the two departed.

Corsiva checked his watch. The time read 9:30 am, July 22, 2024. Corsiva looked around, and upon seeing that no one was around, he said to his watch "Activate protocol UCTV. Password: FA 2011." The watch sprung into action, now showing its true function. The watch served as a portable computer for when Corsiva was away, and included several cords and buttons with individual purposes. The watch currently showed a holographic display of the cameras placed through the underground, and Corsiva quickly found Frisk again, engaged in 'battle' with doggo. Corsiva teleported, or as he called it 'quantum shifted' into Snowdin forest, a little ways away from Frisk. Pulling out his phone, he dialed Papyrus' number, and clicked call. After five seconds, Papyrus finally answered. "BROTHER! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" He asked. "Sorry, bro. I was just at a meeting." Corsiva replied. "A MEETING? FOR WHAT?" Papyrus inquired. "I'm part of the royal guard." Corsiva said simply, and as soon as he did, he moved the phone away from his ear. "WHAT?!?!? YOU'RE PART OF THE ROYAL GUARD?!?!" Papyrus shouted. "WOWIE! THIS IS AMAZING! WHERE ARE YOU?" "I'll send you the coordinates. Can you come here? I want to help you set up a puzzle." "OK! WHICH PUZZLE DO I BRING?" Corsiva though for a few seconds, then answered "Electricity maze. Don't forget the electric orb! See you soon, bro." "BYE BYE FOR NOW!" Corsiva hung up, and started calling Sans, who answered automatically. "heya." He answered. "Hey sans. I've got a serious question for you." "i've got a serious answer." Corsiva smiled at the stupid response. "So, uh, what if I were to tell you that the human you recently met was my sister?" Sans was silent for 10 seconds. When he spoke, he was deadly serious. "We need to meet. Now." Corsiva obliged "Sending you my coordinates. We just need to make it quick, Papyrus will be coming here soon to set up a puzzle for my sister. Talk to you in like 5 seconds. Bye." "Bye." Corsiva hung up, and sent sans and Papyrus his coordinates. Sans automatically warped in next to him. His eyes were completely black. "Is this the reason you were acting so strange earlier? The reason you asked that lady to tell you what the human looked like?" Corsiva nodded, and replied "Exactly. When I fell into the underground, I thought I had lost everything. In truth, I did. It seemed impossible that I would ever see her again. But then I met you, and alphys, and you just took me in like I was really part of your family. The only thing that kept me going was the memory of her, and the tiny bit of hope that I would see her again." "But now…" "But now that she's finally here, I'm afraid, and I don't know what to do." Sans' pupils appeared again, and he replied "that is difficult to decide. personally, i would try to become good friends with her, before you try to tell her the truth. give her a bit of time to figure it out for herself, ya know?" Corsiva nodded, and turned around to see Papyrus sprinting towards them with a box labeled 'PUZZLES' Corsiva smiled, and said to them both "Alright! Let's get to work."

 **A/N - Yeah, So, I'm trying my best here to be consistent. If I can manage it, I'll try to have updates every Wednesday, but no promises. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that you continue enjoying the rest of the story. Make sure to comment/review, have a good day, and I'll see you later. But not physically. That would be weird.**

 **-SF**


	12. Nice To See You For The First Time Again

Frisk was still smiling from her encounter with doggo. **_That was cute, surprisingly._** She thought to herself. Looking forward, she then saw Sans and Papyrus, as well as a third person she didn't recognize. The other person appeared to be wearing an actual suit of armor, with certain parts glowing red, including that same symbol on Toriel's robe. The person also had a menacing looking helmet covering her face, appeared to be wearing a utility belt, and was carrying a katana. She frowned and thought to herself **_Why does that seem familiar?_** She continued onward, and the third figure, who she assumed was another skeleton, then noticed her. They stared at each other.

Corsiva continued to stare at Frisk for 5 more seconds, then told Papyrus: "The human has arrived." Papyrus looked over at Frisk, and shouted "NYEH HEH HEH! GOOD EYE, BROTHER!!" Papyrus then cleared his throat, and continued "ATTENTION HUMAN! TO STOP YOU, MY BROTHERS AND I HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES! I THINK YOU'LL FIND THIS ONE... QUITE SHOCKING!!! FOR YOU SEE, THIS IS THE INVISIBLE ELECTRICITY MAZE!!! WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE, THIS ORB WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY ZAP!" Corsiva was only half paying attention to what Papyrus was saying. He had just seen someone else, standing right next to Frisk. They appeared to also be wearing a green sweater, with one thick yellow stripe. She had short, brown hair and rosy cheeks. Papyrus and sans seemed not to notice her. Then, she noticed that Corsiva was staring directly at her.

"SOUND LIKE FUN??? BECAUSE! THE AMOUNT OF FUN THAT YOU WILL PROBABLY HAVE, IS ACTUALLY VERY SMALL, I THINK." Corsiva continued to stare at the person, trying to think back to where he knew them from, trying to decipher why sans and Papyrus didn't see them. "OK, YOU CAN GO NOW." Frisk took a few steps forward, when suddenly, Papyrus was electrified. Frisk stepped back, and Papyrus turned to look at sans. "SANS!!! WHAT DID YOU DO?!?!" He shouted. Corsiva tapped Papyrus on the shoulder, and said "I'm not confident, but I think that the human needs to hold the orb." "OH, OKAY." Papyrus went right over the solution to the puzzle, gave Frisk the orb, gave a quick "HOLD THIS PLEASE!" and walked back. Without realizing it, Papyrus had just helped Frisk solve the puzzle, and Corsiva could just barely contain his laughter, and he could tell Frisk was doing the same. For some reason, the other person wasn't even trying to contain it, and was openly laughing her head off.

Once again, sans and Papyrus paid her no attention. "OKAY, TRY NOW!" Unsurprisingly, Frisk easily maneuvered through the maze without once making a mistake. Papyrus was baffled. "INCREDIBLE!! YOU SLIPPERY SNAIL!! YOU SOLVED IT SO EASILY… TOO EASILY! HOWEVER!! THE NEXT PUZZLE WILL NOT BE EASY! IT IS DESIGNED BY MY BROTHER, SANS! YOU WILL SURELY BE CONFOUNDED! I KNOW I AM! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!" And with that, Papyrus left. "Well," the other person said, "that was entertaining. Come on, let's go see what's up with that guy." Frisk walked over to Corsiva. "Hi! I'm Corsiva. A pleasure to meet you." And he extended his hand out to her. She took his hand, and gave out a sigh. "You know," she started, "I was really expecting there to be a whoopie cushion in your hand, like sans." Corsiva chuckled. "Yeah, he does that." They stopped shaking, and Frisk continued: "Anyway, I'm-" "Frisk." Corsiva interrupted. "I know." Frisk raised her eyebrows, and the other person looked confused, too. "How did you know what my name is?" Frisk asked. Corsiva merely shrugged, and answered: "Magic."

"Ask him why he's wearing armor." The other person told Frisk. "Oh, you want to know about my armor?" Corsiva asked them. The other person looked at Corsiva, eyebrows raised. "How do you hear me? How do see me?" They asked. Corsiva shrugged again, and said: "Truthfully, I have zero clue. But back to what you asked earlier. The reason I'm wearing armor is because I'm part of the royal guard." The person's eyebrows lowered slowly. "Anyway," Corsiva continued, "what's your name?" The other person looked like they were going to say something snarky in response, when Frisk said "It's okay, I feel like we can trust him. Something about him, it's just so familiar." The other person sighed and said "Chara. It's Chara." Corsiva would have raised an eyebrow if he had any. "I'm no genius," he started, "but I'm pretty sure that y-" "That I'm dead?" Chara finished for him. She smiled. "You would be correct with that." **_Well, that might explain why only Frisk and I can see her. Maybe only humans could see the spirit of a dead human. I guess that makes sense._** Then a memory popped into Corsiva's mind. "Now I remember." He said. "I kn- I saw a picture of you in Asgore's home." Corsiva had to catch himself before he gave himself away. Chara's smile faded slightly. "Dad still has that picture?" She asked. Corsiva nodded. **_Wait a second, if they came in through the ruins, then they could answer a suspicion of mine._** "By the way," he started, "Sans and I have been talking to the lady behind the door to the ruins, and I need to have something confirmed. Is that woman behind the door the queen? You know, Toriel?" Chara nodded, and Frisk asked "Toriel is a queen?" **_Okay. Now I can piece together completely what happened both during and after Chara's time in the underground._** Corsiva smiled. "Anyway, you two should get going. But I'll see you around." Frisk looked like she was considering something, and Chara could see that too. "Actually," Frisk started, "why don't you come with us?" Corsiva's eyes widened beneath his helmet. "Oh!" He exclaimed. "That is not what I was expecting. I mean, you're sure? Just to let you know, I have to constantly give reports to Undyne about your whereabouts. You know, since she's head of the royal guard." Frisk nodded. "I understand." She replied. Corsiva smiled. "Okay. Let's go!" And with that, they all set off.

 **A/N - Wow, I actually did what I said I was going to do! I actually posted on a Wednesday! Anyway, I'm going to change it from every Wednesday to ever Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, since I SHOULD have enough time to do that. Like I said, I pre-write all of these chapters on a google doc where I can actually spellcheck easily, and I copy and paste stuff from said google doc onto here, and I write these things decently quickly, so it shouldn't be a problem. Probably... hopefully... maybe... yeah, this is totally going to fail. Anyways, as always, make sure to comment/review, if you really like this thing (I don't know why you would) you can follow it or favorite it, that would be appreciated. If you just want to see more of what I do, you could check out my YouTube channel I guess, it's the same name as my account here (SpiderFlash 1273), I make gaming videos that are decent at best and cringe inducing at worst, but average a little above mediocre. Regardless of if you do any of this or not, I hope you have a good day.**

 **-SF**


	13. Memories, Messages, and Missing Persons

The three of them traversed rather quickly through Snowdin Forest, getting past all of the monsters they encountered, all of Papyrus' puzzles, and Sans' one word search on the ground. They also encountered a snowman, who asked Frisk to take a piece of them, and take it with her, as they always wanted to see the world, but couldn't due to their lack of legs. Despite what he said to them earlier, Frisk easily began to decipher that Corsiva was something of a genius. He was showing her and Chara some of his inventions and gadgets, and from time to time would say or do something that would show just how much he really knew. **_He's as smart as Drake was._** Every so often, Corsiva would look at his watch, and press a few buttons on it, presumably telling "Undyne" where they were. She kept looking at his katana, wondering why it seemed so familiar. Corsiva seemed not to notice, though. To be honest, he seemed like he was… distracted by something most of the time. Then she noticed something. "What's that engraved on your katana?" She asked. "Ninjato."He corrected. "It has a shorter straighter blade than a katana." Corsiva looked down at his Ninjato, and replied "I had the word Cachear engraved on this thing to customize it a while ago." Frisk raised her eyebrows. "Cachear?" She said, confused. "It's Spanish." He said simply. "For what?" Chara asked. Corsiva shrugged, and said "Maybe you could look into that. Might tell you some things about me." Chara and Frisk looked at each other and shrugged. "I can just ask Dr. Gaster about it later." Chara said. Suddenly, Corsiva stopped in his tracks.

2 years earlier, Corsiva was just browsing in the library (The sign was misspelled LIBRARBY) with sans, because Corsiva was trying to get another idea for a project. After about five minutes, Corsiva noticed something odd. "Hey sans." He called. "Come look at this." Sans walked over and he automatically saw it too. It was a black book, and looked like it was… glitching? It was almost… phasing in and out of reality itself. Corsiva picked it up, and opened it. But he didn't need to read it aloud; it did that on it's own. "E̴N̴T̷R̷Y̶ ̷N̵U̵M̶B̸E̴R̴ ̶1̴7̸:̴ ̸D̷A̷R̵K̴,̴ ̴D̴A̵R̴K̸E̶R̷,̷ ̴Y̷E̸T̸ ̵D̵A̷R̴K̷E̵R̴.̶ ̵T̷H̵E̵ ̶D̵A̷R̶K̶N̴E̶S̵S̷ ̶K̷E̸E̷P̷S̸ ̷G̸R̴O̶W̵I̷N̶G̸.̸ ̷T̶H̸E̶ ̷S̴H̶A̷D̷O̵W̴S̷ ̶C̷U̵T̸T̷I̶N̵G̵ ̴D̴E̷E̶P̷E̸R̴.̶ ̸P̸H̶O̸T̵O̴N̴ ̶R̴E̷A̶D̸I̶N̴G̷S̶ ̷N̶E̸G̷A̸T̴I̵V̶E̵.̵ ̴T̸H̸I̶S̸ ̶N̴E̸X̵T̵ ̵E̴X̴P̶E̵R̷I̸M̶E̸N̴T̸.̸ ̷S̵E̴E̴M̴S̶.̷ ̵V̷E̷R̴Y̶.̴ ̵V̶E̷R̸Y̸.̶ ̸I̸N̶T̷E̵R̸E̴S̴T̴I̷N̵G̶.̸ ̷…̸W̸H̸A̷T̴ ̸D̵O̴ ̸Y̶O̷U̶ ̶T̴W̶O̸ ̵T̷H̴I̷N̴K̸?̵" Corsiva looked around, and for some reason, nobody seemed to hear the book. Suddenly, the pages were… writing themselves and the book kept continuing as it wrote.

"I̶ ̴H̸A̶V̸E̸ ̴T̶R̵I̵E̵D̵ ̶S̷O̷ ̷H̶A̷R̵D̸ ̵T̵O̷ ̶F̸I̵N̵D̷ ̶S̷O̵M̷E̵ ̴W̴A̵Y̷ ̵T̴O̷ ̸C̴O̸M̷M̴U̸N̶I̶C̸A̴T̶E̵ ̴W̶I̶T̸H̸ ̶Y̴O̷U̶.̸ ̷T̴O̸ ̴T̵A̶L̸K̷ ̸T̷O̸ ̴Y̸O̷U̶,̸ ̴G̵U̷I̷D̴E̶ ̴Y̵O̸U̴,̴ ̸P̴E̸R̶H̴A̶P̵S̸ ̵E̴V̸E̵N̴ ̶H̴E̶L̶P̶ ̴Y̸O̴U̵ ̶I̸N̴ ̶S̴O̶M̶E̴ ̷W̵A̴Y̶.̵ ̴T̶O̴ ̷A̵S̸K̵ ̶Y̷O̴U̵ ̵O̴N̶E̸ ̷T̷H̸I̵N̶G̴:̷ ̵T̶O̴ ̷H̵E̶L̷P̸ ̷M̷E̸ ̴R̸E̴T̵U̶R̷N̶.̷ ̵I̷ ̸H̴A̸V̴E̴ ̸F̵O̷R̸ ̴S̴O̸ ̸L̷O̶N̸G̸ ̷W̸I̶S̸H̵E̵D̸ ̵T̸O̸ ̸B̸E̸ ̴G̶I̶V̶E̸N̸ ̵A̵ ̷S̷E̷C̸O̵N̴D̴ ̶C̶H̸A̶N̶C̶E̷ ̸A̷T̸ ̴L̸I̵F̶E̷,̶ ̸T̷O̴ ̸R̴I̴G̸H̴T̷ ̶S̴O̷M̸E̵ ̷W̷R̸O̸N̴G̴S̷.̷ ̵T̵O̵ ̷A̵P̸O̷L̶O̸G̷I̴Z̸E̵ ̵F̵O̶R̸ ̸W̸H̸A̸T̸ ̷I̴'̷D̴ ̶D̷O̶N̷E̶ ̸T̸O̵ ̵Y̷O̴U̴.̸ ̵B̵U̴T̸ ̵I̴ ̴N̸E̶V̵E̷R̶ ̵C̶O̴U̵L̶D̵,̶ ̵U̷N̴T̸I̵L̶ ̴N̵O̷W̵.̶ ̷S̶O̴ ̸I̴ ̸W̸I̸S̸H̶ ̷Y̸O̸U̵ ̸N̴O̴W̵ ̵T̵O̷ ̴H̶E̸L̴P̶ ̵M̸E̸ ̴B̸E̶ ̵F̶R̸E̷E̵;̴ ̴B̷O̸T̶H̴ ̴O̴F̷ ̴Y̵O̴U̷.̶ ̵T̸H̷I̸S̶ ̵T̷A̴S̷K̸ ̵C̶A̷N̶N̵O̴T̵ ̵B̸E̴ ̷A̷C̷C̶O̵M̵P̷L̸I̴S̶H̶E̴D̷ ̶B̷Y̸ ̴O̴N̴E̴ ̵M̷I̴N̶D̶ ̸A̸L̵O̸N̶E̶.̶ ̶Y̵O̸U̴ ̶M̴A̸Y̸ ̸N̷O̷T̷ ̵R̸E̴M̵E̷M̶B̵E̶R̵ ̸W̶H̷A̴T̵ ̴I̵'̷V̴E̷ ̸D̴O̷N̵E̷ ̷I̶N̴ ̵T̸H̶E̴ ̶P̴A̶S̸T̷,̸ ̸B̶U̷T̴ ̶I̵F̴ ̵Y̶O̸U̴ ̸D̸O̶…̴ ̸I̶ ̷U̷N̸D̶E̷R̶S̶T̶A̵N̴D̴ ̶I̵F̵ ̶Y̵O̶U̴ ̶D̷O̶N̷'̷T̷ ̷F̶O̷R̵G̴I̸V̵E̶ ̷M̶E̵.̵ ̶B̴U̴T̸ ̷I̵ ̸M̴U̸S̵T̴ ̵B̴E̷G̸ ̸Y̵O̴U̴ ̵N̵O̵W̶,̶ ̶H̴E̴L̷P̵ ̷M̷E̴ ̶J̶U̶S̷T̸ ̴T̷H̶I̸S̶ ̵O̴N̷C̷E̴.̶ ̶H̴E̷L̵P̵ ̵M̶E̷ ̴B̴E̶ ̷F̴R̷E̵E̷ ̷F̸R̴O̵M̴ ̵T̵H̴I̸S̶ ̸V̵O̴I̶D̴.̷ ̸T̵H̸I̵N̶K̵ ̴O̷F̷ ̵I̴T̶ ̸A̶S̸ ̸A̶ ̸L̴A̵S̷T̸ ̴R̷E̸Q̴U̴E̸S̶T̷ ̷F̴R̵O̸M̷ ̸T̸H̶E̸ ̴M̵A̶N̷ ̸W̵H̴O̷ ̵S̷P̵E̸A̵K̷S̷ ̷I̷N̸ ̵H̵A̵N̸D̷S̴.̷" And with that, the book stopped writing, stopped speaking. Sans eyes were wide. Corsiva closed the book, and walked back home. "I think I have a new idea for a project." He told Sans a little bit later.

"Corsiva?" Frisk asked, snapping her fingers. "Are you alright?" Corsiva shook himself awake. "Sorry about that." He said. "Just had to SNAP back into focus there." Frisk started laughing, and Chara along with her. Corsiva checked his watch again, and saw that he had one new text message. *meet me in the workshop behind the house ASAP.* He looked ahead of them, and saw that Snowdin town wasn't that far away. "Anyway, we should probably keep going." He told the others. "Papyrus probably wouldn't be too happy if we didn't make it to his next puzzle." They kept moving forward, and Corsiva texted sans back. *What's up?* *think i figured it out.* *What are you talking about?* *you know what i'm talking about.* *Making my way down to you through the forest, have to get past the 'Gauntlet of Deadly Terror' first, though.* *oh yeah. that.* *You should probably be there, too. Meet you in the workshop after the human inevitably fights Papyrus?* *sure. talk to ya later.* *See ya.* As they made their way through the forest, Corsiva would continue to give Undyne updates, and sent pictures of Frisk engaged in battle with both lesser dog and greater dog. Undyne didn't ask why he was able to get these pictures, or why he was hanging out with Frisk. Either one of two things could have been the answer: Either she didn't care, or she already knew why. C̴O̸R̸S̶I̴V̶A̵…̶ ̵

Corsiva stopped in his tracks, and felt his eyes start glowing uncontrollably. He held his hand out, signaling Frisk and Chara to stop. "What's wrong?" Frisk asked. Chara stayed silent, upon seeing his change in body language. Corsiva's eyes flashed, and started glowing brighter. He looked around, but didn't see anything, not that that surprised him. He continued searching, and activated what he called 'SOUL Vision.' "While sans and Papyrus perform magic on an advanced level, I have ascended past mastery into pure artistry. Take my SOUL Vision, for instance. I have become so skilled with my magic, and so powerful, that I have gained a sort of x-ray vision. Basically, I can see the outline of a person, as well as their SOUL. The outline and SOUL color will be different, depending on what magical trait they possess. I can see these things even while blindfolded." After a minute had passed, Corsiva couldn't find anything out of the ordinary, and he calmed down a bit, letting his eyes go back to normal. "Right now, I can't find anything out of the ordinary with it, though." He said. "Except you, Chara." He added, before starting to walk again. *I feel like I'm being watched.* He texted. *And I don't just mean by Alphys' cameras. Think it's him?* *definitely.*

 **A/N - ... so... hey guys. Fun fact, I'm not dead. ...I have zero excuses for not updating for almost two months. I'm just... I'm sorry. My personal life was just kind of... piling up on me. Hopefully though, it doesn't do that to me all that often, and I'll be able to update more (though with me being in high school, and having finals, there's no guarantee)! Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this long overdue update of this mediocre story, and have a good day. Make sure to comment and/or review, and you'll hopefully hear from me within the next century. See ya!**

 **-SF**


	14. Papyrus’ Perillous Puzzle Prevention

About 2 minutes later, the trio encountered a long, wood, rope bridge, which Corsiva and Frisk awkwardly tried to arrange themselves onto, while Chara just sat above the pit, laughing at them. After a few minutes, they finally managed to get on the bridge, and started walking forward again. "Fun Fact," Corsiva started, trying to lighten the mood, "although technically it isn't very fun. Just interesting, to me at least. This bridge isn't dangerous, as a matter of fact, it isn't even a bridge at all. It's a rock formation that Papyrus painted over. He thought it looked more dramatic that way. He also added the rope." C̴O̶R̸S̸I̴V̴A̴…̶ ̶ _ **There it is again.**_ Corsiva thought. _**Dr. Gaster? Is that you? Can you hear me?**_ Y̷O̸U̷'̷R̸E̴ ̶S̷O̷ ̷C̴L̸O̵S̷E̵…̶ ̵Y̵O̴U̸'̸V̴E̴ ̴D̶O̴N̴E̵ ̸S̸O̷ ̴M̸U̸C̶H̴…̷ ̴I̸'̴M̸ ̴E̷X̸T̶R̷E̴M̴E̷L̷Y̴ ̴G̴R̶A̴T̴E̶F̷U̷L̷.̷̴͔̓Corsiva had a thought. "Be right back." He told Frisk and Chara. And with a snap of his fingers, he shifted back into Sans' workshop.

Sans looked up at him as he materialized. "i didn't think you would be back yet." He said aloud. Corsiva shrugged, and moved towards his desk. Sitting down, he began tinkering with his watch. Pulling two small, identical devices out of it, he put one of them in his ribcage, and planted the other inside of his armor. _**Shrink.**_ Quickly, the armor began to melt, and shrink. After a few seconds had passed, the armor had completely hidden itself inside his chest. "neat." Sans said, slightly awestruck. Corsiva smiled, and shrugged. But that wasn't what he was there for. "Where's the book?" He asked sans. Sans pointed to the table in the corner of the room, and Corsiva instantly saw it. Summoning it over to him with Blue Magic, Corsiva grabbed two more of the devices, planting them in his arm, and in his Ninjato, _Cachear_. Making _Cachear_ melt down until it just covered his wrist, he lifted his shirt sleeve over it, effectively hiding it from view, and grabbed the now floating book, along with a pen. Finally, he put one of the devices inside of his helmet, and then inside of his eye, making that melt down and hide inside his skull. "We're already at the bridge, by the way." He told sans. "Might want to get a move on." And with another snap, he shifted back to the bridge.

"Sorry about that." He told Frisk and Chara as he appeared. "Just had to make a quick change. That armor was KILLING me." Frisk took a minute to examine the clothes Corsiva was wearing. "Is something wrong?" Corsiva asked. "No," Frisk replied, "It's just… you look good." Corsiva smiled again, and said "Thanks." The trio continued forward, until they eventually encountered Sans and Papyrus. "BROTHER!" Papyrus shouted. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THE HUMAN?" Corsiva shrugged, and replied "I have to make constant reports to Undyne about their whereabouts. This is the best way to do it." Frisk grinned at him, he grinned back. Papyrus sighed, and said "I GUESS THAT MAKES SENSE." He cleared his throat, and began the speech Corsiva and Sans had heard him practicing for hours on end. "HUMAN! THIS IS YOUR FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE! BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!" Frisk's jaw dropped as she saw the 'puzzle' appear, and Chara even mouthed "Oh. My. God." While most of the puzzles beforehand had been at least remotely easy, this was just unfair. The contraption was comprised of a spike ball on a chain, two spears, a cannon, an oil drum fire pit… and a little white dog being hung by the stomach with a rope that Corsiva had named Toby.

Papyrus absolutely hated this dog, as it would steal his bones every so often. It appeared that Papyrus was getting revenge on the dog in this way. Toby didn't seem to mind it though. "WHEN I SAY THE WORD, IT WILL FULLY ACTIVATE! CANNONS WILL FIRE! SPIKES WILL SWING! BLADES WILL SLICE! EACH PART WILL SWING VIOLENTLY UP AND DOWN! ONLY THE TINIEST CHANCE OF VICTORY WILL REMAIN!" Corsiva silently agreed, but there was just one thing. It would only be that hard if Papyrus actually decided to activate it. _**But will he?**_ "ARE YOU READY!? BECAUSE! I! AM! ABOUT! TO DO IT!" A few seconds passed. "well? what's the holdup?" Sans asked. "HOLDUP!? WHAT HOLDUP!? I'M… I'M ABOUT TO ACTIVATE IT NOW!" A few more seconds passed. Frisk's fear slowly began to die away, and she began to become more confident. "that, uh, doesn't look very activated." Sans stated sarcastically. "WELL! THIS CHALLENGE! IT SEEMS… MAYBE… TOO EASY TO DEFEAT THE HUMAN WITH. YEAH! WE CAN'T USE THIS ONE! I AM A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS! MY PUZZLES ARE VERY FAIR! AND MY TRAPS ARE EXPERTLY COOKED! BUT THIS METHOD IS TOO DIRECT! NO CLASS AT ALL! AWAY IT GOES!" The puzzle retreated back into the darkness. "PHEW!" Papyrus sighed, looking away.

He suddenly remembered that he wasn't alone. Looking back at Frisk, Corsiva, and (though he didn't know it) Chara, he shouted "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT!? THIS WAS ANOTHER DECISIVE VICTORY FOR PAPYRUS! NYEH! HEH!" Another few seconds of silence. Until finally… "HEH?" Papyrus finished, sounding confused. And with that, Papyrus walked away. A few more seconds passed, where nobody moved. Eventually, though, Frisk started walking again, and the tension was relieved. "Well, that was strange." Corsiva said aloud. Frisk nodded, and Chara replied "Yep." "So, it seems like you're going to have to fight Papyrus pretty soon." Corsiva said. "So listen. My family means the world to me, and I would do anything for them. So I've got a question for you." He stepped in front of Frisk. "Do you have any intention of harming my brother?" Frisk shook her head. "I would never hurt anyone, unless absolutely necessary." She told him firmly. "Anyone." Corsiva smiled again. "Thanks." He said. Frisk looked down at the book in his hands. "What's that?" She asked him. Corsiva shrugged, and replied "Just my Grail Diary." Frisk raises an eyebrow, smiled at him, and asked "Is that a reference to-" "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? Yes." He replied instantly, cutting her off. Corsiva grinned wider, and signaled that they should continue moving forward. And so they continued.

 **A/N - Yeah, so, I know that this is mostly a filler chapter, but that happens a lot on this website. And it's probably going to happen again in my stories, sadly. Still though, just because some chapters are filler for time so that the Author can get to another part of the story, it doesn't mean that the story is bad, or that the writer is bad. Even actual books made by people with talent and skill have filler chapters here and there. I mean, look at the Harry Potter series! Even though I strongly think that those books are fantastic, most of their chapters have practically NOTHING going on, but when they actually get to doing something, it's fantastic! That's pretty much what the entirety of "The Sorcerer's Stone" (or "Philosopher's Stone" for UK readers) was; filler chapters so that Rowling could show the gradual progression of time, and that despite how famous Harry was and how wacky all of his adventures were, he mostly lived a normal wizard's life while he was in school. Key term: "In school." Anyways, if you enjoyed this, make sure to comment and/or review, maybe share this story or my other one with some friends if you feel like it, and I hope that you enjoy the rest of the story. Have a good day!**

 **-SF**


	15. Great Skeleton Is Robbed By A Dog

"Anyway, welcome to Snowdin Town!" Corsiva told Frisk and Chara a short time afterwards. "Me, Sans, and Papyrus all live here. There's lots to do in this cheery place." And So he gave them a tour, talking about all of the major things. "So in short," he said about a minute later as they neared his house, "Grillby's has drinks and food, the Library has, big surprise, books, the Snowed Inn has beds that you can sleep in, and the shop has food and other stuff. And then, we have my house." He said, stopping and gesturing dramatically as he did, making Frisk giggle. "It's just a normal house. 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room." **_And a small lab for a basement, as well as a workshop around back._** "Thanks for the tour." Frisk said jokingly. When suddenly, "Yip yip!" Corsiva looked over, and saw Toby was bouncing towards them through the snow, panting. Corsiva crouched down, patting his knees. Toby made his way over to them at Mach speeds (somehow) and leaped into the air, landing on top of Corsiva's head. Chuckling, Corsiva picked Toby up off his head with Blue Magic, set him down, and started petting the small dog. Frisk crouched down and started petting him, too. "I've seen this dog before." She told Corsiva. "I call him Toby." Corsiva said. "He annoys Papyrus SO much. You may have seen him hanging by a rope during the Gauntlet Of Deadly Terror." Corsiva made to leave, and move forward, when Frisk stopped him. "Hold up." She said, holding her hand up in the air. "I want to test a theory."

She pulled out a phone, and Corsiva thought to himself **_That's_** **_new,_** and she dialed a number. After a few seconds, Toby started to vibrate. "Either Toby's a bomb," Corsiva said aloud, pointing at the dog, "or it ate somebody's phone." Chara started laughing, and said aloud between the laughs "Well, at least we know why Mom won't answer your calls." Corsiva stiffened up a bit, and went silent, his pupils disappearing. He always got uncomfortable whenever parents of some kind were brought into a conversation "Let's keep going." He said aloud firmly. Chara and Frisk were both surprised by this sudden change in tone. "What?" Chara asked aloud, confused. "What's wrong?" Frisk asked him. Corsiva took a deep sigh, and thought to himself **_What the heck, she'll find out eventually. M_** ** _ight_** **_as_** **_well give her some hints to help her along._** "I…" he started, "I never really… got to know my parents." **_Did I seriously just think to myself "heck?" Wow. I REALLY censor myself around Frisk._** Frisk and Chara both went silent, and it rung between them for a few seconds. Corsiva eventually smiled again, his pupils reappearing, and said aloud "It's alright. I still got to grow up with some awesome family members anyway." Frisk started smiling slightly, and Chara's grin returned completely. Corsiva started moving again, and told them "Come on. You've still got to battle 'The Great Papyrus!'" And with that, they all started laughing again, moving forward into the fog ahead, Toby running off on his own.

Eventually they got so far into the fog that they could barely see anything. Frisk kept bumping into Corsiva, it was so bad. "You know what?" Corsiva said after a while. "I've got an idea." His eyes started glowing, and they could all see a little bit better. They could even see the outline of… "HUMAN." Papyrus stated from through the fog. "ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS. FEELINGS LIKE… THE JOY OF FINDING ANOTHER PASTA LOVER. THE ADMIRATION FOR ANOTHER'S PUZZLE-SOLVING SKILLS. THE DESIRE TO HAVE A COOL, SMART PERSON THINK YOU ARE COOL. THESE FEELINGS…" Papyrus paused, and before he even said another word, Corsiva already knew what he was going to say. "THEY MUST BE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING RIGHT NOW!!!" Chara laughed a bit, and Frisk smiled. "I CAN HARDLY IMAGINE WHAT IT MUST BE LIKE TO FEEL THAT WAY." Chara laughed even harder, and Frisk's smile widened. "I PITY YOU… LONELY HUMAN… WORRY NOT!!! YOU SHALL BE LONELY NO LONGER! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE YOUR…" Papyrus paused, and thought for a moment. Frisk's smile faded slightly, and even Corsiva was a bit shocked. When Papyrus thought something about someone, or thought he wanted to be their friend, he was automatically their friend. No taking it back! But now? "NO… NO, THIS IS ALL WRONG! I CAN'T BE YOUR FRIEND! YOU ARE A HUMAN! I MUST CAPTURE YOU! THEN, I CAN FULFILL MY LIFELONG DREAM!!! POWERFUL! POPULAR! PRESTIGIOUS!!! THAT'S PAPYRUS!!! THE NEWEST MEMBER… OF THE ROYAL GUARD!"

Corsiva was even more shocked. For a second there, it almost seemed like Papyrus wanted to be friends with Frisk. But all the same, Corsiva activated his watch, and pulled out a speaker from inside his pants pocket. "What are you doing?" Frisk asked, as Chara just floated there, looking confused. Corsiva grinned, and said "I've created several different songs for different scenarios. A couple days ago, Papyrus found out about this, and asked me to input songs for when he battles people, more specifically humans." He plugged the speaker into his watch, and connected a second cable to his skull. Frisk flinched a bit, seeing what he was doing. "So," Corsiva continued, "I threw together an entire playlist for both random scenarios and battle themes." When the transfer was done, Corsiva threw the speaker into the air, to which it formed into a sort of quadcopter drone. "I can either give it specific commands for what theme to play at what time, or I can let it do it's stuff. I've set this thing to track your every move, and it play the music it deems fitting for the situation at hand for you." Finally, Corsiva issued a mental command. Activate Track: NYHH-2. Codename: Bonetrousle. Automatically, the speaker started playing, and Papyrus started pulling out his attacks. "Do something!" Chara told Frisk, who had started spacing off because of the song, and Frisk was jetted back to reality. She started stuttering, and eventually accidentally shouted out "Papyrus I think you look really nice!"

Chara's mouth fell open, and Corsiva felt as if he'd been slapped across the face, it was so random. Frisk covered her mouth automatically after saying it, and started turning red, she was so embarrassed. "WHAT?!" Papyrus shouted, flustered. "FL-FLIRTING!? SO YOU FINALLY REVEAL YOUR ULTIMATE FEELINGS! W-WELL! I'M A SKELETON WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS!!!" Frisk shrugged, and said "I can make spaghetti." "OH NO!!! YOU'RE MEETING ALL OF MY STANDARDS!!! I GUESS THIS MEANS I HAVE TO GO ON A DATE WITH YOU…?" Frisk's eyes widened, her mouth fell open, and she started blushing even more furiously. "LET'S DATE L-LATER!! AFTER I CAPTURE YOU!" Papyrus started throwing bones at Frisk left and right, none of them coming close to hitting her as she stood completely and perfectly still. Papyrus' mouth fell open, and Corsiva could tell he was greatly impressed with this effortless feat.

Corsiva smiled a bit to himself, and Frisk shouted at Papyrus "I won't fight you, Papyrus!" Papyrus frowned a bit, and shouted back "SO YOU WON'T FIGHT… THEN LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN HANDLE MY FABLED BLUE ATTACK!!!" On these last words, a barrage of blue bones raced at Frisk, though none of them did any damage as they just passed right through her. When suddenly, the essence of her SOUL changed, and she sank to the ground a bit more. "YOU'RE BLUE NOW. THAT'S MY ATTACK! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!!"

 **A/N - And the battle with Papyrus has begun. Man, I wonder if our trio will even survive this battle. It's just so intense! So perilous! I mean, Papyrus is just so dangerous! Have I mentioned that I love oxymorons? Like the Delta Help Desk, that's one of my favorite oxymorons. Anyways, if you want to see the rest of the fight, you'll have to tune in next time... alright, I'm not that cruel. Here it is.**

Papyrus started scratching his chin, and muttered audibly "I WONDER WHAT I SHOULD WEAR…" and began throwing bones at Frisk left and right, which she dodged with some difficulty. Between these attacks, Frisk asked Corsiva "Any information you can tell me about Papyrus? Maybe it could help me get through this battle?" Corsiva grinned, and said back "He likes to say 'Nyeh Heh Heh!'" And right on cue, Papyrus said aloud "NYEH HEH HEH!" Chara grinned as the bones continued to pass right through her, and even Frisk managed to muster a slight smile. "WHAT?!" Papyrus exclaimed, realizing that they heard him talking to himself about his clothing options. "I'M NOT THINKING ABOUT THAT DATE THING!!" Frisk looked back at Corsiva, confused, and he shrugged. "YEAH! DON'T MAKE ME USE MY SPECIAL ATTACK!" Papyrus shouted, gaining some of his confidence back, as he through more attacks at Frisk.

* * *

heya. sans here, since spider forgot to add this in the original chapter, and he had homework to work on. to make this more convenient for reading, until something eventful actually happens, the only thing you're going to read is what papyrus says. this method will most likely be used again later, just so you know. you're welcome. can i finish writing this yet? i'm gettin kinda sick of it. i mean, look at me; i'm so pale! heh heh.

* * *

"I CAN ALMOST TASTE MY FUTURE POPULARITY!!!" Papyrus shouted as he threw more attacks at Frisk, which she dodged with some difficulty. "PAPYRUS: HEAD OF THE ROYAL GUARD! PAPYRUS: UNPARALLELED SPAGETTORE! UNDYNE WILL BE REALLY PROUD OF ME!! THE KING WILL TRIM A HEDGE IN THE SHAPE OF MY SMILE!!! SANS WILL… WELL, HE WON'T CHANGE VERY MUCH. I'LL HAVE LOTS OF ADMIRERS!! BUT… WILL ANYONE LIKE ME AS SINCERELY AS YOU?" Frisk blushed again. "SOMEONE LIKE YOU IS REALLY RARE… AND DATING MIGHT BE KIND OF HARD…" Frisk blushed deeper, as Chara just laughed. "AFTER YOU'RE CAPTURED AND SENT AWAY. URGH… WHO CARES! GIVE UP! GIVE UP OR FACE MY… SPECIAL ATTACK!!! YEAH!!! VERY SOON I WILL USE MY SPECIAL ATTACK! NOT TOO LONG AND I WILL USE THAT SPECIAL ATTACK!!! THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE… BEFORE MY SPECIAL ATTACK!! BEHOLD…! MY SPECIAL ATTACK!"

And right on cue, Toby came into view, chewing on a large bone. "WHAT THE HECK! THAT'S MY SPECIAL ATTACK! HEY! YOU STUPID DOG! DO YOU HEAR ME!? STOP MUNCHING ON THAT BONE!!! HEY!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!" As Toby slowly began to scoot away, still keeping a tight hold on the bone. "COME BACK HERE WITH MY SPECIAL ATTACK!!!" But it was already too late. Toby had already run away. "... OH WELL. I'LL JUST USE A REALLY COOL REGULAR ATTACK." Frisk readied herself, and even Corsiva was prepared for anything. Papyrus sighed, and said "HERE'S AN ABSOLUTELY NORMAL ATTACK." And Papyrus really threw EVERYTHING he had at Frisk, so much so that Corsiva needed to actually do something to keep her from getting too hurt. Finally, after Frisk had dodged practically everything in the "Normal Attack," Papyrus said "WELL…! 'HUFF' IT'S CLEAR… YOU CAN'T! 'HUFF' DEFEAT ME!!! YEAH!!! I CAN SEE YOU SHAKING IN YOUR BOOTS!!! THEREFORE I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, ELECT TO GRANT YOU PITY!! I WILL SPARE YOU, HUMAN!!! NOW'S YOUR CHANCE TO ACCEPT MY MERCY." And Frisk, extremely exhausted, gladly obliged.

 **A/N - Aaaand that's the actual chapter. I hope you enjoyed it! I can't believe it; I'm actually posting THREE chapters of this story in the same week! It's a miracle! But, sadly, miracles don't come about very often, and they don't last long. So... don't expect this streak to continue. Anyways, if you liked this, make sure to comment and/or review, and share this story with some people if you like. I hope you all enjoyed, and have a good day.**

 **-SF**


	16. A SAVE Choice

"NYOO HOO HOO…" Papyrus moaned. "I CAN'T EVEN STOP SOMEONE AS WEAK AS YOU… UNDYNE'S GOING TO BE DISAPPOINTED IN ME. I'LL NEVER JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD… AND… MY FRIEND QUANTITY WILL REMAIN STAGNANT!" Frisk, feeling slightly bad for Papyrus, walked forward, and said the following:

"Let's be friends." Papyrus' eyes widened, and he looked up at Frisk.

"REALLY!? YOU WANT TO BE FRIENDS, WITH ME? WELL THEN… I GUESS… I GUESS I CAN MAKE AN ALLOWANCE FOR YOU! WOWIE! WE HAVEN'T EVEN HAD OUR FIRST DATE… AND I'VE ALREADY MANAGED TO HIT THE FRIEND ZONE!" Both Chara and Corsiva just burst out laughing at this comment.

"WHO KNEW THAT ALL I NEEDED TO MAKE PALS… WAS TO GIVE PEOPLE AWFUL PUZZLES AND FIGHT THEM? YOU'VE TAUGHT ME A LOT, HUMAN. I HEREBY GRANT YOU PERMISSION TO PASS THROUGH! AND I'LL GIVE YOU DIRECTIONS TO THE SURFACE.

"CONTINUE FORWARD UNTIL YOU REACH THE END OF THE CAVERN. THEN… WHEN YOU REACH THE CAPITAL, CROSS THE BARRIER. THAT'S THE MAGICAL SEAL TRAPPING US ALL UNDERGROUND. ANYTHING CAN ENTER THROUGH IT, BUT NOTHING CAN EXIT… EXCEPT SOMEONE WITH A POWERFUL SOUL… LIKE YOU! THAT'S WHY THE KING WANTS TO ACQUIRE A HUMAN. HE WANTS TO OPEN THE BARRIER WITH SOUL POWER. THEN US MONSTERS CAN GO TO THE SURFACE! OH, I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU… TO REACH THE EXIT, YOU WILL HAVE TO PASS… THROUGH THE KING'S CASTLE. THE KING OF ALL MONSTERS… HE IS… …WELL…

"HE'S A BIG FUZZY PUSHOVER! EVERYBODY LOVES THAT GUY. I AM CERTAIN IF YOU JUST SAY… 'EXCUSE ME, MR. DREEMURR… CAN I PLEASE GO HOME?' HE'LL GUIDE YOU RIGHT TO THE BARRIER HIMSELF! ANYWAY! THAT'S ENOUGH TALKING! I'LL BE AT HOME BEING A COOL FRIEND! FEEL FREE TO COME BY AND HAVE THAT DATE!" As Frisk blushed one last time, Papyrus ran on air, passing her, Chara, and Corsiva, and headed back towards the skelebros' residence.

"So, you think you're going to go on a date with him?" Chara teased, as Corsiva snickered.

"Shut up!" Frisk shouted at both of them, although she too was chuckling.

"Anyway, I think I see sans up ahead, and knowing him, he'll want to hang out with you at Grillby's. So don't keep him waiting." And Corsiva shifted away to Sans' workshop to see what sans had figured out, and get some work done on the machine.

About five minutes later, Sans got back from Grillby's with Frisk, and was ready to work with Corsiva again.

"so why'd you take the book with you?" Sans asked as he walked in.

"I wanted to have it in case he decided to communicate with us again. I might be able to sense where he was, maybe look for anything with the same residual energy output as the book, maybe even find a way to bring him back, though that last one seemed very unlikely. As you can probably tell, it didn't work out." Sans shrugged.

"it was a good idea, though."

"So, what did you figure out?" Corsiva asked sans.

"we've been thinking about this the wrong way. it's practically impossible to bring something out of the void, that much is clear. but, maybe, instead of bringing something out of the void, we put something in it?" Corsiva nodded.

"That's a good point! But… now we have to figure out how to put something into the void without forever erasing it from reality." Sans nodded. The two brothers continued to work on the machine in front of them, barely taking any breaks, though every so often Sans would suddenly leave without explanation, presumably to check on/prank Frisk. Eventually, Corsiva looked at his phone, and saw that Undyne had texted him to come and speak with her.

"Gotta go," Corsiva told Sans, and with that, he shifted away to Waterfall. He quickly found her just outside the entrance to hotland, posing on her Crag.

"What's up, Undyne?" He asked as he shifted up next to her.

"Where have you been?" She asked him, sounding more concerned than angry.

"I was working on something with, get this, SANS." Undyne grinned.

"Well, at least you're safe. Has the human killed anyone?" Corsiva shook his head.

"Not from what I can tell, and trust me, I would know if they ever killed anyone." Undyne nodded, and Corsiva looked at his watch. "If my calculations are correct, they should be getting here in about five minutes." Undyne put on her helmet, and Corsiva shifted back to where Frisk and Chara were.

"Where have you been?" Frisk asked him.

"Sans needed my help with something." Corsiva replied. "Plus, we're in waterfall now, and Undyne doesn't need me to keep track of you while you're here." Frisk shrugged, and Chara nodded.

"Makes sense." The spirit reasoned.

"Anyway, we're almost to hotland, but that comes with a problem. You're going to have to fight Undyne, and there's no way around it." Frisk grimaced slightly.

"She's not looking forward to it." Chara told Corsiva.

"Don't worry, Frisk. I won't let anything happen to ya." Corsiva told his sister, patting her reassuringly on the shoulder. They continued to walk forward a ways, when they saw Undyne perched upon her Dramatic Crag, and she started an equally dramatic speech that sounded extremely rehearsed.

"Seven. Seven human SOULs, and King ASGORE will become a god. Six. That's how many we have collected thus far. Understand? Through your seventh and final SOUL, this world will be transformed. First, however, as is customary for those who make it this far… I shall tell you the tragic tale of our people. It all started, long ago…" Undyne paused, and Corsiva wasn't sure if she was considering whether or not to tell it, or if she had just completely forgotten the rest of her speech.

"... No, you know what? SCREW IT! WHY SHOULD I TELL YOU THAT STORY WHEN YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE!? NGAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" And in a flash of light, Undyne threw her helmet to the ground. As she looked back at Frisk, her hair flowing in the wind, which had begun to howl, spreading through waterfall the now playing lemitoff that Corsiva had named "Ngahhh!"

"YOU! You're standing in the way of everybody's hopes and dreams! Alphys's history books made me think humans were cool… with their giant robots and flowery swordswomen. BUT YOU? You're just a coward! Hiding behind that kid so you could run away from me again! And let's not forget your wimpy goody-two-shoes-shtick! Oooh! I'm making such a difference by hugging random strangers!" She mocked.

"You know what would be more valuable to everyone? IF YOU WERE DEAD!" Frisk flinched.

"That's right, human! Your continued existence is a crime! Your life is all that stands between us and our freedom! Right now, I can feel everyone's hearts pounding together! Everyone's been waiting their whole lives for this moment! But we're not nervous at all. When everyone puts their hearts together, they can't lose! Now, human! Let's end this, right here, right now. I'll show you how determined monsters can be! Step forward when you're ready! Fuhuhuhu!"

Frisk took a deep breath and Corsiva could swear he could hear her say The wind is howling. That totally isn't foreboding… yet her mouth remained closed. Weird. Then, Frisk took a step forward, and the music stopped playing.

"That's it then…! No more running away!" As undyne jumped down, her spear primed, she finally shouted "HERE I COME!" And thus the battle had begun. Undyne gave Frisk a spear to block some of the attacks about to come her way, turned her SOUL mode from red to green, and shouted: "En guarde!" As she did all of this, a new song began playing, a battle theme that Corsiva had designed for her, which he had named after her title and alias: "Spear of Justice." Frisk soon realized that she was unable to move her legs.

"As long as you're GREEN you CAN'T ESCAPE! Unless you learn to face danger head-on… You won't last a SECOND against ME!" Undyne threw a few spears at Frisk, which were moving decently slowly, and organized in a very simple pattern. And unsurprisingly, Frisk managed to block every single spear that was thrown her way.

"Not bad! Then how about THIS!?" And the attacks started gradually getting more complex, more intense, as Undyne spoke.

"For years, we've dreamed of a happy ending… And now, sunlight is just within our reach! I won't let you snatch it away from us! NGAHHH! Enough warming up!" The spears got even more intense, and Frisk nearly managed to block all of them. But, to Corsiva's horror, she hadn't spotted one fast enough. He shifted in, landing in front of her, intending to try and block the attack for her, without thinking about what he was doing.

Corsiva felt it as soon as it happened. He looked down to evaluate had happened, but he didn't have to. He already knew exactly what had happened. The spear had gone straight through his SOUL.

"C-Corsiva?" Frisk asked, and he looked behind him and into her eyes. He hadn't acted fast enough. The spear had impaled them both, despite his attempts. Undyne's eyes widened in shock as she gasped, and Corsiva felt the spear disappear, but the damage had been done. Both him and Frisk fell to the ground, and they stared into each other's eyes.

"I…" Corsiva started, "I… I'm so sorry. I tried my best, but I… I failed. I wasn't fast enough." Frisk closed her eyes, tears pouring out and running down her cheeks and falling to the ground.

"I accept your apology." She whispered, and he felt his SOUL shatter, before both Frisk, as well as the rest of the world, faded to black, and Corsiva felt nothing anymore.

… And then, he opened his eyes. Though his eyes were open, he could only see black around him. Actually, it wasn't even black, it was just… devoid of anything in general. Except, he was there. _**Is this the afterlife?**_ He thought to himself.

"Who said that?" A voice echoed out through the darkness, and Corsiva turned around. Behind him, he saw, much to his surprise, Frisk, just as alive as ever. Corsiva suddenly remembered what happened to him, and jumped. He looked down at his chest, and felt around at his SOUL. It wasn't broken, or cracked, or damaged in any way. He wasn't sure how he felt about this. _**Calm down, Corsiva. One thing at a time.**_ \- _**Corsiva? Is that you?**_ Frisk's voice echoed out from inside his own mind. _**Frisk, you might want to turn around.**_ He thought to himself. And somehow, miraculously, Frisk turned around to look at him. Her eyes widened as she saw him, and she sighed in relief.

Then, they both saw something. Corsiva walked towards the two glowing lights, curious.

"You two are here, too?" Another voice came out, and Chara walked up next to them, also curious about the lights. It wasn't that Chara was there that was surprising to Corsiva, it was that she looked… solid. She wasn't floating, or phasing through anything, she was just standing on the ground, Then, they finally regained focus, and saw clearly what was in front of all of them. They were buttons. **| RESET|LOAD|** Corsiva stepped forward, his hand outstretched. Why he did, he wasn't sure. It was almost as if he was acting upon instinct. What would happen if he pressed one of the buttons? He had to find out. He continued to walk forward, and just let his hand land on the **| LOAD|** button. As he pressed the button, he could feel the world slowly unravel itself around him, and rewrite itself. He walked towards Frisk, and tried to embrace her before it all ended, but he wasn't fast enough. As the world continued to dissolve around him once more, he looked around for anything to help him. And then, he saw them standing there, observing him. But it was too late, and he was helpless as the entire world around him, once more, turned to black.

* * *

 **LOADING SAVE FILE…**

* * *

And then, it was all back. They were standing before Undyne, perched upon the Dramatic Crag, her helmet off, her dark red hair flowing in the wind. Corsiva looked over at Frisk, and could tell from the look in her eyes that she remembered what had happened, too. Corsiva looked down at his chest, and saw that he still had his SOUL, completely unfractured. _**Okay, that was weird.**_ He heard Frisk's voice in his head. _**You can say that again.**_ He agreed. _**Okay, so I can still hear you in my head. That is weird.**_ \- _**I agree completely.**_ Frisk stepped forward, and once again:

"That's it then…! No more running away!" And as Undyne jumped down, she once again shouted "HERE I COME!" And the battle started once again, the music playing the same tune, just as loud and inspiring as before.

 **A/N - So, this chapter is mostly just filler. If I'm being honest, most of the chapters that take place in the underground are bound to be just filler chapters, save a few exceptions here and there. Anyways, this is (part) of the Undyne fight, if you couldn't already tell. I hopefully should be able to get up the other part sometime this weekend, though it'll be a good bit shorter, and then we can get to more plot-focused things. Sorry if you don't like me jumping around a lot in the timeline or skipping details from the Underground. I figured that if you're reading this, you probably know the story of Undertale anyways, so... yeah. As always, make sure to comment and/or review, I hope you have a good day, and I'll be back in a flash.**

 **-SF**


	17. Doing The Right Thing For Your Enemy

Everything continued as usual, up until when Undyne finally attacked with her full might. Instead of just jumping in front of her, Corsiva finally decided to be smart, and intervene in a less stupidly dangerous way. Turning her SOUL blue, he pulled her towards himself, allowing her to avoid the attack she missed, and successfully freeing her legs, allowing her to dodge as much as she wished.

"Thanks!" She told corsiva, before turning her attention back on Undyne, who had started throwing more spears at her.

"Heh… You're tough!" Undyne noted, seeing with how much ease Frisk was dodging her attacks. "But even if you could beat me… No human has EVER made it past ASGORE! Honestly, killing you now is an act of mercy…!" But Frisk continued to block and dodge her attacks, slowly but surely regaining some of her confidence. As Undyne continued to change her SOUL mode from red to green and back again, she continued to speak.

"... So STOP being so damn resilient! What the hell are humans made out of!?"

"Flesh, bone, muscles and organs, though they're also made of liquid." Corsiva replied jokingly. Off in the distance, they could all hear Papyrus inexplicably scream in rage.

"Anyone else would be DEAD by now! Alphys told me that humans were determined…" Undyne's attacks reached an all time high, and they started getting even more complex. Just as Frisk was about to block the last spear, it appeared behind her, taking her by surprise. But this time, Corsiva was prepared. Shifting behind her, he unsheathed Cachear, and blocked the spear for her.

"Would you like a helping hand?" He asked her, as he allowed his armor to once again cover his body from the neck down. Frisk grinned and nodded. And thus, the battle reached a new point.

"I see now what she meant by that!" Another wave of spears was thrown at them. This time, however, since the two were working together in unison, not a single spear made its mark.

"But I'm determined, too! Determined to end this RIGHT NOW!"

"Do you want a piece of advice?" Corsiva asked Frisk.

"... RIGHT NOW!"

"What do you mean?" She asked in response.

"... RIGHT… … …NOW!!"

"No time to explain. Do. You. Want. My. Advice?"

"Ha… Ha…"

"Uh, I guess?"

"NGAHHH!!! DIE ALREADY, YOU LITTLE BRAT!"

"RUN!" And with that, They turned and left Undyne in the dust. "What was that about?" Frisk asked Corsiva as his armor and ninjato disappeared once more. "She's the heroine that NEVER gives up! She clearly wasn't about to accept mercy from you, and the only way it would've ended otherwise would be if she died, since it's clear by now that you're able to play god, become a time lord, and return from the dead." Frisk nodded, and replied:

"Yeah, you do have a point."

Corsiva suddenly flashed back to the day he and Frisk left the orphanage. He looked behind himself, and the only thing he could see was the bullies chasing them again. He continued running forward, but suddenly was snapped back to reality when he accidentally tripped, and started falling forward into the lava of hotland.

"Corsiva!" Frisk shouted, and she stopped to catch his hand. She groaned as she struggled to pull him back up.

"CORSIVA!!!" Undyne too shouted as she saw him hanging there, and saw Frisk struggling to help him up. She sprinted at them both with all of her might, her eyes widened in shock as to what was happening.

"I… can't… hold him… for long…" Frisk said between her groans, as she started screaming in pain. Undyne started sprinting even faster. Chara was just completely silent, having become frozen in place when she saw Corsiva trip.

"Just hold onto him for a few more seconds!!" Undyne shouted to Frisk.

"I'm… trying…" She replied, sweating profusely with the strain. Corsiva then felt something shift slightly, and looked back up in horror as he saw, heard, and felt the arm that Frisk was holding slowly coming detached. His eyes started glowing uncontrollably, shifting from his large white pupils to glowing several different intensities of yellow and purple colors, but never truly staying a single color for more than half a second.

"Uh… Undyne? Could you maybe HURRY UP!? I'M ABOUT TO FALL TO MY DEATH!!!"

"I'm coming!!!" But just as his wrist came detached from the rest of his arm, Frisk grabbed his other arm, as Undyne grabbed straight for his rib cage, and together they hoisted him up back onto the platform. As they all sat down, panting and gasping for breath, Frisk's phone rang.

"Hey, Papyrus." She answered, still breathing heavily.

"HEY! WHAT'S UP!?" Papyrus asked her.

"Nothing much." Frisk said half-truthfully.

"I WAS JUST THINKING… YOU, ME, AND UNDYNE SHOULD ALL HANG OUT SOMETIME! I THINK YOU WOULD MAKE GREAT PALS! LET'S MEET UP AT HER HOUSE LATER!"

Frisk sighed, and replied "See you there," before hanging up. As Corsiva finished putting his arm back into its place, Chara unfroze, and they all stood up and tried to process what had just happened.

When everyone had finally figured out what had happened, Frisk took the opportunity to continue running away. She sprinted as fast as she could for about 10 seconds, when she realized that Undyne wasn't chasing her.

"Armor… So… Hot…" Undyne panted. "But… I can't give up…!" She took a few steps towards Frisk, before fainting from the heat, and falling to the ground with a mighty crash.

"Come on, let's go." Chara told Frisk, and beckoned for them to continue forward. Frisk started following only begrudgingly, when she noticed that Corsiva was staying behind, staring at Undyne, looking like he was contemplating something.

"Come on, YOU didn't kill her." Chara said, although both Frisk and Corsiva could tell that she didn't want to leave either. Frisk started looking around, when her eyes landed on the water cooler. She hurried over to it, and got a cup of water.

"You do realize that she'll kill you if you give her that water, right?" Chara asked her.

"It's the right thing to do." Frisk replied simply, and she poured the water onto Undyne's head.

Slowly but surely, Undyne started to stand back up. She stayed silent as she regained her focus, and looked around at her surroundings. Her eyes landed on Corsiva, and on Frisk, still holding the cup, and she realized what must have happened. But, instead of attacking, she simply walked away from them, a confused look on her face. Frisk sighed, relieved that nothing bad happened.

"I don't understand where you find it in a you to save everyone you meet, you know." Chara told her. "But, I'll allow it, because it seems very… familiar…" Chara went silent, apparently lost in thought. Corsiva thought he knew where she was coming from, but he hid it.

"Familiar how?" He asked her.

"I can't quite place it." She replied after a few seconds. "It just seems… like a call back to a simpler time." She added. Corsiva immediately knew what she was talking about. The picture in Asgore's house wasn't the only place that Corsiva had seen Chara, after all, though Frisk probably wouldn't have remembered it as well as he had.

 **A/N - So, I have a few things that I want to say here. One: to my very first reviewer, thank you for your feedback, and I'm glad you enjoy reading this story. Two: if you readers have any criticisms at all, as long as they're genuine and constructive, please tell me in a review, I'd love to know how I can improve. Three: if anyone else reading this story likes this type of story, and wants to see more of my "work," check out my other story that I'm writing right now: A Spider On The Wall. It has three chapters up right now, and I'm working on posting more. Alright, back to the normal stuff. Yes, this chapter is ending on a cliffhanger, and I'll get to it in the next chapter. Be aware, the next chapter or two will be taking place in the past, and will be more story based than action based. Anyways, please comment/review if you feel like it, if you want you can even share this story with your friends, and I hope you all have a good day.**

 **-SF**


	18. Jokes, Confessions, and New Friendships

September 21, 2015. Same Universe; Same Earth.

Drake walked down the halls of the orphanage, his hood over his head, hands in his pockets. If any normal person passed him as he walked, they would have had no idea what he was thinking of. Then again, that might have just been because they wouldn't care about what he was thinking of, but that's besides the point. After walking for quite some time, he eventually came across the doors to the kitchen. He looked around, checking that nobody would see him. After a few seconds passed, the only camera that would be able to spot him looked away, rendering him safely inside of it's blind spot, and he entered the kitchen.

As he slammed the door shut, he turned around slowly, and saw somebody standing there, frozen as they stared at him. Drake also froze, staring back at them, and observed that they appeared to be about 4 or 5 years older than him. They were female and wearing a green sweater with a thick yellow stripe, he could tell that much, and her hand was reaching inside of the knife cabinet. They stood there for a few seconds, before Drake finally decided to make things less awkward.

"Uh, am I interrupting something here?" He asked jokingly. She smiled slightly. "You know, maybe I should just go. Yeah, I'm gonna do that, you can just keep on reaching for the kitchen utensil that totally didn't come into existence because somebody with a sword was trying to cook, and their hand slipped."

"You've got quite the mouth, Drake." She said, chuckling, as Drake turned around to open the door and leave. Drake turned back to face her again, she was now leaning against the stove.

"You know who I am?" Drake questioned.

"Word spreads fast here about the so called genius who's stupid enough to try and challenge the kids who have the most power here. At least, the most power according to anybody younger than them." Drake smiled.

"And you are?" He asked her. She walked towards him.

"Chara." They greeted.

"Just Chara? Do you have a last name? Or is that your last name, and you introduce yourself in a James Bond-Esque fashion?" She snorted.

"You know bond?" She asked.

"No, it's impossible to know him, as he's a fictional character from a movie series that's constantly getting rebooted and gaining new actors to say 'Shaken not stirred' and 'Bond. James Bond.'" Drake retorted. Chara laughed harder.

"I never thought I'd see the day when a 6 year old would know the Bond movies and be able to make me laugh." She told him. Drake frowned.

"7." He corrected.

"What was that?" Chara asked.

"I'm 7, not 6. And the only reason I know those movies is because of… never mind."

Drake stopped himself before he could mention them. **_Don't_** **_let_** **_her_** **_in_**. He thought to himself. **_You_** **_can't_** **_let_** **_anybody_** **_in_**. Chara frowned at him, noticing the change in his tone.

"You okay?" She asked him.

"I'm fine." He replied somewhat forcefully.

"You're not convincing anybody with that tone." She told him.

"You know, eventually you just don't care if you convince anybody, and they don't care about your tone." He retorted. "And when they stop caring about your tone, you continue, until they stop caring about if you're fine, then until they just stop caring about you in general, because nothing actually matters to you anymore. Not when you've already lost nearly everybody in your life." Chara nodded slightly, finally understanding.

"You know, maybe, just maybe, you should be grateful. You at least got to spend some time with your family. I never got the chance to know my parents." Chara told him. He looked back up at her, trying his hardest not to show any emotion.

"It doesn't matter what my last name is anymore, when they were never around long enough to tell me. My mother died giving birth to me, my Father was a drunken bastard who left my mother when he found out she was pregnant. He got what he deserved by way of organ failure. When my parents died, nobody, and I do mean NOBODY, thought to comfort me. Nobody tried to tell me it was okay, nobody patted me on the back, nobody did anything." She scowled. "I hate my father, I hate this place, I hate humanity as a whole." She stated, and not an ounce of humor was to be heard in her voice. Drake was slightly taken aback.

"You shouldn't be thinking about these things." He told her. "You're still young. You need to keep some of your innocence."

"Bit hypocritical, Mr. 7-year-old. I'm 5 years older than you, almost 6 years. If I shouldn't be thinking about these things, then why should you, hmm?" Drake opened his mouth to say something, but closed it after a few seconds. She had a point.

"Exactly. You shouldn't, either. Yet, here we are." They stared at each other in silence for a few more seconds.

"Anyways, uh, why are you in here?" Drake asked her.

"I was looking for a knife." She told him truthfully.

"Any reason that you feel like telling me?" He asked again. When she shook her head, he gave a slight nod.

"What about you?" She asked him. "What are you doing in here?" He thought to himself.

"Uh… you probably wouldn't believe me." He responded.

"Try me." Chara shrugged. Drake took a deep breath.

"So, I was looking for a good exit place for something, because I'm going to be working on an underground tunnel system to use as an escape route if I ever need it, and I want there to be a good amount of exits and entrances so I can use it practically anywhere in the building?" She blinked in surprise.

"Two things: One, you're right, I don't believe you. Two: Smart, thinking ahead like that." Drake smiled at the compliment. "When would you deem it necessary to use them?" Drake frowned.

"I would hope to never have to." He replied. "But if I had to, I would say in the event that… well, in the event that my sister nearly dies because of the bastards here."

"You have a sister?" Their conversation continued for a few minutes before the pair of them eventually left, feeling considerably better.

 **A/N - Heh heh... yeah, so... it's been a while, huh? Sorry, I've just had some stuff going on in my life; school work piling up, applying for jobs for the summer, and just about everything else in my life really makes doing this hard. However, in a little bit (less than a week), I'll be done with high school! Meaning that I'll (hopefully) be able to post more often! ... until the start of the next semester, I mean. Cause, I still have a few more years of high school after this, and I'm in the marching band... anyways, let's hope that next year, I'll be much better at getting these updates out! As always please comment and/or review, and I hope you have a good day.**

 **-SF**


	19. Letters, References, and Questions

Two months later, Drake received a letter. He wasn't used to getting letters, seeing as pretty much nobody outside of the orphanage knew him. There was also the fact that the letter was lodged inside of the kitchen windowsill instead of set on the floor in front of his door. With both of these facts in mind, needless to say he was a bit curious. He walked up to the window and pulled out the letter.

"TO BE DELIVERED TO DRAKE JOSEPH ADDAMS NO EARLIER THAN FOUR MONTHS AFTER HIS SEVENTH BIRTHDAY." He read the writing on the envelope aloud. He examined the letter further. "Huh." He said aloud to nobody in particular. "No stamp." Even more curious, he opened the letter.

"Dear Drake," it read. "If you're reading this letter, then I'm dead, and earlier than any of us could have hoped. I know that it must be hard for you, thinking about this, but I need you to be strong. I can only hope that you, wherever you ended up, are okay. I can't give you much, but I can hope that you might find some use, or at least joy, in some of the things I can give. Attached to this letter is an address. Go there, tell the man your name and the password. With Love, and the utmost respect and pride for the man I know you're going to grow into, Dad."

Drake sat silently for about five minutes, thinking to himself about what the letter had said.

"Are you going to look at the address?" Came a voice, breaking him out of his daze. He looked up to see Chara sitting next to him. He felt a tear run down his cheek, and Chara lowered down to hug him. "Come on, let it out." They sat like that for a little while, with Chara trying to comfort Drake, and Drake happily accepting. She eventually got him to calm down enough for him to rationalize and go through what he planned to do.

"I'm going to go to this place, wherever it is, tell this person the password, and get whatever it is my father wanted me to have." He said aloud, partially so that Chara understood where he would be the next day, mostly for himself. "Then, I'm going to come back through the kitchen window, and find some place to hide and keep the thing, and nobody will be the wiser."

"Okay." Chara responded, understanding. "I'll stay here and keep the others from getting too suspicious about where you are." Drake grinned at her.

"What could go wrong?"

"Everything." He muttered to himself the next day. "Everything could go wrong." He had woken up at around 8:30 in the morning, and hadn't gotten a ton of sleep the night beforehand, so he was already incredibly tired and woozy. He had managed to find the place by sneaking his way into Madam Security's office and hacking her computer so that he could gain access to a mapping system, and just barely managed to get out before she got back and caught him. Before he could even get as far as the door, though, the bullies decided it would be a perfect time to gang up on him, which in combination of trying to get into the office, cost him five hours before he could even crawl out the kitchen window to head off. After finding out that where he was headed was, pardon my French here, over on the other fucking side of the city, he hauled ass for three hours because he didn't have enough money to buy a taxi over there.

When he got there, he barely paid any attention to the name of the place, and just walked straight in.

"Welcome to my pawn shop, what can I do for you?" The man said when he heard the door open.

"Hey, I'm Drake." Drake greeted, exhausted, giving a slight wave. "Drake Addams." The man looked at him.

"You're a bit young." He noted.

"I am." Drake replied, nodding, "Although, Master Yoda would say that I'm still too old." The man chuckled slightly.

"What brings you to my pawn shop today, Drake?" He asked.

"I'm looking for something, though I'm not entirely sure what it is." Drake responded truthfully. "I received a letter from my now deceased father saying to come here and get this… thing, whatever it is." The man frowned, and scratched his chin.

"What did you say your name was, again?" He asked the boy in front of him.

"Drake Addams." Drake told him. The man smirked slightly.

"Woah. This is heavy." He suddenly said. Drake looked back up at him, confused, before realizing the quote.

"There's that word again." He continued the quote. "'Heavy.' Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the earth's gravitational pull?" The man smirked.

"Come with me." He told Drake, who obliged without question.

The man directed Drake behind the counter at the front of the store, and pulled him towards a random wall. He pulled a poster up, revealing a keypad, before typing in the code 09152015. The wall suddenly moved, revealing a hidden room. Drake followed the man into the room, curious once again. "Oh my god." He said, looking at everything. The room was a workshop of some kind, he could tell that much without even looking around too much. Every shelve had some sort of gadget sitting on top of it, not an empty space anywhere in sight. Some things Drake recognized, other things looked unfinished, some things were just in disrepair, clearly failed projects.

"Your dad and I worked in here a lot." The man stated, and Drake jumped. He had nearly forgotten about the man. "He and I just came in here and worked, just tinkered on things. We were going to change the world, him and I."

"Sorry for asking, but who exactly are you?" Drake asked the man.

"I guess I never really did introduce myself." The man noted. "I'm Joseph. Joseph Davis. Everybody calls me Joe. Your dad, Johnathan, was my best friend all through High School and College. I never knew Felicia as well, but she was still a good person. I can definitely see how John came love her." Drake didn't know what to say, so he said nothing at all. The man, Joe, didn't appear to notice too much.

"When they got married, I was best man. I was originally going to be godfather when they had you, but in the end, I was deemed unfit to be a parent." Joe sighed.

"What happened to my parents?" Drake asked him. In reality, he thought he already had a pretty good idea. They were all driving, when another car crashed into them, and his parents were killed in the crash. Drake had miraculously survived the accident, despite being launched out the window due to him unbuckling so that he could re-adjust his position. Frisk had been launched out after him, but she had been mostly fine due to landing on top of him instead of the concrete. She had been knocked unconscious in the landing, but she would be fine. Drake hadn't been quite as lucky. He had managed to set his sister down gently next to him, and call an ambulance using his Dad's phone, which he had been borrowing in the time of the crash, before he passed out in the dirty alleyway due to the many shards of glass lodged inside of his abdomen, right leg, and his temple, as well as the several broken ribs.

"They were assassinated." Joe answered Drake after a few seconds. Drake was shocked.

"Your father was a big fan of history, as well as science. One of the things he believed in was that there were monsters buried deep underground somewhere in this world. One of the ways that he wanted to change the world was to find these monsters, and free them from their prison. I don't know if he ever found out whether or not Monsters really existed, but his actions caught the attention of some group. He never told me what group it was, or even their name, just that they were after him and your mother. But he didn't go into hiding, no he didn't. He thought he could survive without hiding from them. Show them that he wasn't afraid of them. Eventually, he came to me saying that he had figured it out, and that Mt Ebbot was the key. Apparently, _they_ weren't very happy about this. So, they orchestrated a little accident for him."

"The car crash." Drake whispered, and Joe nodded.

"I'm sorry for what happened to them, even though I couldn't have done anything if I tried." Drake looked down at his feet.

"But you're not here to listen to me apologize for something that I can't change. No, you're here because your father wanted you to have something." Drake looked back up at Joseph. "Your father wanted me to give you more than just my first name as your middle. He wanted you to have everything here, so that's what I'm giving you. You can do with it what you want. Toss it, finish it, clean it, shove it in your closet. Just take whatever you want, and ask me if you want to know what some of it is. You can always come back for more if you want it." Drake looked around at everything in the room.

"What's with the katana?" He eventually asked Joseph.

"It's not a Katana, it's a Ninjato." Joseph corrected. "The Ninjato has a shorter straighter blade than the Katana."

"Cool. But what is it for?"

"The blade is made of a special alloy, one that can absorb and disperse energy as the user sees fit. I don't remember why John wanted to make it, but he did. I think he said it was mainly for self defense, but could also be a damn good tool when used properly. He loved that thing, and definitely would have wanted you to have it." Drake examined the blade and handle for a few seconds, before picking it up.

"It's remarkably light." He noted aloud. Joseph just nodded. Drake grabbed a few more unfinished things, and shoved them into his backpack, before placing the Ninjato inside of its sheath, and heading out again.

"I'll give you a ride." Joseph said aloud.

When they got back to orphanage, it was around 6:00. Drake thanked Joseph again, before running around to the back of the building. Thankfully, he was mostly hidden in darkness, and all of the other children had gone inside for the night. He crawled his way onto the roof of the building, looking for his entrance. Eventually, he found the kitchen skylight, and saw Chara waiting for him inside. He knocked on the plane of glass, and Chara looked up to see him. She smirked, and opened it up for him to enter.

"How did it go?" She asked him.

"Other than all of the inconveniences before I even got there, it was fine." He responded.

"What did you get?" She asked him.

"I uh…" he started, moving the Ninjato into view, before the door was thrown open, and low and behold, it was Madam Security.

"I knew it!" She exclaimed. "I knew that you were up to something!"

"What?" Drake asked stupidly. "Don't play dumb. You know what you've been doing."

"Uh, we've been becoming good friends and talking in the kitchen because it's the only place that's actually quiet and private?" Chara guessed.

"You're lying! I know that you've been doing more than that!"

"Uh, no we haven't. That's literally all we've been doing in here." Drake argued. Madam Security huffed angrily.

"Fine. If you don't want to confess, then I'll have to punish you."

"You're just saying that because you hate us and just want a reason to do something to us." Chara said, steeming. Madam Security smirked.

"Maybe. But it doesn't matter. You need proper punishment. No meals for a week. No leaving your rooms, and if I see either of you outside, you'll receive further punishment." Drake's mouth dropped.

"That's not fair!" He exclaimed.

"You need to learn eventually that what you think doesn't actually matter, Addams." Madam Security snapped at him. "Rooms! Now!" She ordered, gesturing towards the door. Chara scowled at her, before leaving. As Drake was about to leave, however, Madam Security stopped him.

"Give me that." She commanded. Drake was confused, if only for a few seconds, before realizing what she was talking about.

"Why should I?" He asked boldly.

"Weapons are prohibited." She spat.

"Oh, bullshit they are!" He exclaimed. "I know for a fact that James has a private cabinet filled to the brim with knives in his room, which you yourself know about and have personally seen!" Security glared at him, and held out her hand to grab the Ninjato. He scowled at her, before begrudgingly shoving it into her hands, and stomping off to his room. When he got there, he saw a sticky note pinned to the window.

"Drake, it's Chara. Sorry to just leave like this, but I can't stay here any longer. You probably won't see me ever again. I'll miss you, Drake. And I won't forget about how good of friends we became. Don't follow me to Mt Ebbot. Unlike me, you have someone worth living for. Stay safe." Drake's brain was firing off at speeds no normal human should. He almost smiled, thinking about the choice of words Chara had used. _Friends,_ she had called the two of them. He would have liked that. His parents would have… well, he thought they might have liked seeing their son make a friend. But hey. He couldn't ask them, so he didn't know. All he knew was that he had a question: What is going on with Mt Ebott?

 **A/N - Alright, so here's the rundown on what's happening. Right now, to make up for the fact that I didn't update for so long, I'm attempting to publish as many chapters in one day as humanely possible. This** _ **is**_ **a little bit difficult, but I'm trying my best. So don't be surprised if you see a large number of "chapters" for this "story" being uploaded in the same day. This will NOT continue, and I won't do this again (unless I'm dead for another 2 months or whatever, in which case I'll do it again). Anyways, that's the end of the past section of this story (at least, for now)! Sorry if these two chapters were mostly filler, but like I've said before, most chapters in this** **fan fiction** **are "filler," because this is based more on** ** _story_** **, not** ** _action_** **. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed, and that you're having a good day. Please comment and/or review, and I'll see you in the next one.**

 **-SF**


	20. Phone Numbers, Phone Calls, and Naps

Back in the present…

"It's probably just nothing." Chara said aloud, more to herself than anybody else, although she now eyed Corsiva a bit more strangely. "Anyways, just up ahead is the Lab, but there should be an elevator right around the corner. Take that, and you'll be directed straight to New Home." Frisk smiled a bit. "What?" Chara questioned.

"Asgore really is bad at names, isn't he?" She asked Chara and Corsiva. Corsiva smirked, and nodded. Then he remembered something.

"Crap!" He exclaimed aloud.

"What is it?" Frisk asked him, confused.

"You can't use the elevator." He told her. "There are other guards stationed in front of it. Undyne told them not to let anybody use it." Frisk frowned.

"Okay, then what's the fastest route otherwise?" She asked.

"You're going to have to go through the Lab." He told her. "I know the scientist who works there, and knowing them, she'll help you. You're going to have to make your way through Hotland, the puzzles should be deactivated. If they aren't, well, then either call Alphys for help, or call me, or see if you can't figure them out on your own. Eventually, you'll make it to MTT resort, you'll have to go through it to enter the CORE. When you get there, take the first elevator, it'll get you directly to the end of the CORE. If it doesn't work, listen to Alphys, and don't try to make your way through it on your own, the place rearranges all the time, you'll get lost in there. If she doesn't know, call me, I'll be there in an instant. When you reach the end, you'll see one more elevator. Take it, and you'll be taken directly to New Home. Keep going, until you reach the Throne Room. You'll have to meet Asgore, but don't worry. I'll be there with you. When you meet Asgore, he'll take you directly to the barrier. You'll know what to do from there."

"I don't have your number!" Frisk told him anxiously. Corsiva smirked.

"Give me your phone." He said, holding his hand out, and Frisk complied. He pushed a few buttons on it, before handing it back to her. "There. Now you have my number. But just so you know, I didn't mean call me on the phone." He winked.

"What do you… oh. Oh! Right." She said with realization. "What if we run into trouble before we reach the CORE, and we can't call you or Alphys?" Chara asked Corsiva.

"Didn't I just say that there's more than one way to call me?" He asked rhetorically. "Anyways, I'll see you later." And he shifted away, and back to Sans' workshop. When he got there, he immediately pulled out his phone, and dialed the number.

"Sans!" He said as soon as they picked up.

"what's up, bro?" Sans asked him.

"I need to talk to you. Now!"

"why? what's wrong?"

"It's too hard to explain." Corsiva told his brother. "Either tell me where you are, or get back to the workshop."

"i'm at my sentry station. the one on the second level of hotland." In an instant, Corsiva was there.

"I died." He stated aloud, shocking Sans.

"what!? what do you mean, you died!?"

"It doesn't matter. What matter is that-"

"no way! there is no way that you're just skipping over this! explain what happened!" Corsiva sighed.

"We were fighting Undyne." He started. "Or at least F- my sister was. I was over to the side, making sure that nothing bad was going to happen. I had to admit, she was pretty damn good. But, she failed to notice a single spear. Without thinking, I just jumped in its path, and… well, being a skeleton, the only part of me that it really hit was my SOUL. Unfortunately, physics decided to rear its old head, so the Spear kept going. So now, My SOUL was completely impaled, and guess who the person behind me was, and what happened to them, too."

"The human was impaled as well." Sans muttered, his pupils disappearing, and his attitude becoming serious. Corsiva nodded.

"We both had a spear going straight through our SOULs. I felt death looming over, felt it's warm embrace, coming to take me home. I closed my eyes on our world, accepting my failure and death with open arms… and then I woke up. I was in… I don't know where I was. It wasn't anything of this world, neither the underground or the surface. There wasn't much there. It wasn't the afterlife, it was a Void, more than anything else. I called out to see if anybody else was there, and saw my Sister there, too. We quickly discovered that this plane of non-existence wasn't completely empty. There were two buttons in front of us, one labeled 'LOAD,' the other 'RESET.' I almost instinctively felt my hand glide over to the LOAD button, and I just pressed it. I felt myself being pulled forcefully from the Void, felt it unravel itself around me, shape itself into something else. I closed my eyes. And then, I was back. Right before the battle even started. Undyne didn't remember anything about killing me, or anything that had happened in the battle, but I remembered. My sister remembered, too.

"But before I woke up in the real world again, before I left the void… I saw him, Sans. I saw Gaster. Just standing there, watching me. I know it sounds weird, but I'm telling you the truth. The problem is, I don't know what to make of it." Sans looked at him sadly, his pupils being manifested once again.

"what do you think you should do, cors?" He asked his brother. Corsiva shook his head.

"I have an idea, but it's… well, let's just say less than ideal."

"care explaining?"

"Well, the basic of it is that I figure out how to… Save, for lack of a better term, my place in time, do it, die again (not looking forward to that), and find a way to pull Gaster back to reality with me. Problem is, it's incredibly implausible that I'll be able to learn how to Save my place before Fr- my sister reaches Asgore, the rate she's moving through the underground. Not only that, but it'll be incredibly difficult to find somebody willing to kill me without having to explain to them the fact that I have the ability to play god and bend time to my will, and even if we do find somebody, my HP and DF would be way too high for them to do any good amount of damage in a short amount of time. And we don't know if my Magic and Determination will heal that damage in a matter of seconds. So many things could go wrong!" Corsiva turned away, staring off absently at the CORE.

"and that's exactly why you're seriously considering it, isn't it?" Sans half asked, half stated. Corsiva smirked.

"Am I really that predictable?" He asked.

"i can read you like a book."

"Which one? The infinitely looping book that essentially says that quantum physics is a joke?" Sans chuckled. "Yes, Sans, I am still going to follow through with trying it. Because where's the experience and fun in science if you don't take a few risks?" The two of them chuckled a bit.

"I'm going to head back to the house. I've had a bit of an exhausting day."

"okay. see ya later, siv." Corsiva smirked, and if he had eyebrows one of them would have been raised. He shifted back home, and immediately collapsed onto the couch.

"Maybe I should just watch some TV." He muttered aloud, truly exhausted. He picked up the remote, and started flipping through the channels, before something caught his eye on one of the many MTT channels. "Damn." He said aloud, staring at the television. "I really can't leave you alone for five seconds, can I Frisk?" He stood back up, groaning. "And I was going to relax a bit, too." He was about to shift away, when he remembered what he told Frisk. If she thought she needed him, she would have called him. He sat back down, and sighed. "Besides, she's got alphys there with her. She'll be fine without me. Mettaton won't be able to do a thing." He looked at the time. "Well, Maybe I can nap for a few minutes…" he muttered as he spread his body out across the couch, and let his armor disappear again.

 **A/N - Alright, that's another chapter done. I think that makes it 3 in one day so far. I'm gonna go for 8, do you mind? Hope you enjoy, please comment and/or review, have a good day, all that fun stuff.**

 **-SF**


	21. Arachnophobia and Long Due Reunions

_**Umm… Corsiva?**_ Frisk's voice interrupted his sleep about 20 minutes later. _**I'm on my way.**_ He told her. He searched for about five seconds with his SOUL vision, before finding her somewhere in hotland, shifting in next to her.

"What's up?" He asked, before he looked over at her, and saw that she was completely covered from the neck down in purple spider webs, which extended to the ground around her. "Oh no." He said aloud, his eyes widening.

"I heard…" A voice echoed out from the darkness, and before he even fully realized what was happening, his legs were bound together with webs, and he was jerked up into the air, leaving him hanging upside down.

"Oh NO!" He exclaimed, seeing the figure coming from out of the darkness.

"...That they're awfully stingy with their money!" Muffet finished for herself, fully visible now.

"Ahuhuhuhu... You think your taste is too refined for our pastries, don't you, deary? Ahuhuhu... I disagree with that notion. I think your taste... Is exactly what this next batch needs!" Frisk's eyes widened in horror. The speaker started playing a song that Corsiva had named "Spider Dance." Muffet then turned her attention to Corsiva, who she left dangling upside down by his legs. His eyes were glowing a bright yellow color, interlaced with white and red. He had learned a long time ago what all of the colors meant, and how they were all connected to emotions. Right now, he was feeling stressed out, slightly afraid, frustrated, and angry all at the same time. _**Frisk, did you happen to buy anything from a Spider Bake Sale on your way here?**_ He mentally asked.

 _ **No, the products that Muffet was selling was too expensive.**_

 _ **Forget what Muffet specifically was selling, were there any Spider Bake Sales ANYWHERE in the underground up to this point?!**_

 _ **There were a few spiders in The Ruins, I think. But I'm not damaged, and these things are actually MADE of spiders! I'm TERRIFIED of spiders!**_

 _ **You might want to get over that fear some time soon.**_

"Don't look so blue, my deary." Muffet practically cooed to Corsiva. He nearly growled at her in anger, but before he could even say anything at all, more webs covered his body, practically putting him into a straight jacket made of purple webs. "I think purple is a better look on both of you! Ahuhuhu." Muffet laughed. Corsiva scowled.

"I would have to disagree with you th-mph!" His snarky remark was cut short by a web suddenly covering his mouth. He glared at Muffet, before he suddenly felt himself slowly lowering. He looked down, and saw a bunch of spiders gathering underneath him. His eyes widened, and he immediately started struggling.

"Why so pale? You should be proud." Muffet winked at him.

"Proud of what?" Frisk asked.

"Proud that he's going to make a delicious cake, or course! Ahuhuhu!" Muffet replied, laughing, before ordering spiders to attack Frisk.

"Let us go!" Frisk pleaded, while simultaneously dodging the spiders, though with some difficulty.

"Let you go? Don't be silly. Your SOUL is going to make every spider very happy- Oh, how rude of me! I almost forgot to introduce you to my pet! It's breakfast time, isn't it? Have fun, you two."

A large spider-like muffin with eight legs suddenly appeared, with a hungry expression on its face. It roared as it opened its mouth, Frisk immediately struggled with all of her might. She barely managed to escape the jaws of the thing in time, breaking through some of the webs holding her in place in the process, though the "pet" managed to get a bite at her leg, which opened up a deep gash. She moaned in pain, as blood started flowing out onto the webs around her. Corsiva would have screamed if he head the ability. Chara, however, did scream.

"Frisk!" She cried out.

"The person who warned us about you...Offered us a LOT of money for your SOUL. They had such a sweet smile and… Ahuhuhu. It's strange, but I swore I saw them in the shadows... Changing shape...?" Muffet continued. Corsiva only continued struggling, as he was lowered closer and closer to the spiders in the ground beneath him. "Oh, it's lunch time, isn't it? And I forgot to feed my pet!" The creature returned, and managed to hurt Frisk even more, which she was helpless to stop. Chara looked away, unable to watch what was happening to Frisk.

"With that money, the spider clans can finally be reunited. You haven't heard? Spiders have been trapped in the RUINS for generations! Even if they go under the door, Snowdin's fatal cold is impassable alone. But with the money from your SOUL, we'll be able to rent them a heated limo. And with all of the leftovers...? We could have a nice vacation. Or even build a spider baseball field. But enough of that... It's time for dinner, isn't it? Ahuhuhu!"

Corsiva had finally had enough. He cried out in rage, his eyes glowing red, and unsheathed _Cachear_ , which started burning with red flames encasing it, slicing through the webs holding him in place. He immediately shifted in between Frisk and the creature, which Corsiva had now dubbed "Muffin," holding out his hand. "That's enough!" He shouted, ripping the webs off of his mouth. A large and intricate rotating wall of bones appeared in front of Muffin, blocking the creature from reaching either of them. He cut Frisk completely free, helping her to her feet.

"You're still alive? Ahuhuhu. Oh, my pet, looks like it's time for dessert." Suddenly, another spider came into view, this one holding a piece of paper. "Huh? A telegram from the spiders in the RUINS? What? They're saying that they saw you, and… you helped donate to their cause!" Frisk nodded as vigorously as she could, and pulled a Spider Donut out of her pocket, showing it to Muffet.

"Oh my, this has all been a big misunderstanding. I thought you were someone that hated spiders. The person who asked for that SOUL… They must have meant a DIFFERENT human in a striped shirt. Sorry for all the trouble! Ahuhuhu! I'll make it up to you. You can come back here any time... And, for no charge at all...  
I'll wrap you up and let you play with my pet again! Ahuhuhuhuhuhu! Just kidding." The spiders around them all started leaving, as Frisk took a bite out of the Spider Donut. Corsiva was grateful the Muffet had turned away to leave, as Frisk gave a slight shudder as the pastry went down her throat.

"Doing better?" Corsiva asked her. She nodded. "The next time that she invites you into her parlor, do me a favor and excuse yourself." Corsiva jokingly advised her. She gave a weak chuckle, before wincing. Corsiva frowned. "You sure you're doing okay?" He asked her. "You're not looking too hot, which is surprising given our location." Frisk stayed silent. Corsiva took the liberty to examine her wound. Despite the magical food, it still wasn't looking very good. His frown deepened. He grabbed onto Frisk.

"What are you doing?" She asked him, though she spoke very slowly, and her eyelids were drooping. He didn't answer, instead picking her up gently, her body spread out across his arms.

"You look like you could use some rest." He told her, to which she nodded, before dozing off in his arms. He smiled, before shifting back to Snowdin, and into his home.

He quietly brought her into his room, and gently set her down on his bed. He then moved down to the end of the bed, before putting his hands on her injured legs, and using his magic to heal her, his eyes burning green like a fire beneath his closed sockets. Chara, who up until that point had been silent as she watched all of this, finally spoke up.

"Is that really you, Drake?" She quietly asked the skeleton in front of her. Corsiva didn't take his focus off of his sister, focused on making sure that she was healed properly.

"Well, are you happy?" He asked her. "I did what you asked me for a little less than five years. Like you said," he finally turned back to look at Chara, his eyes opening again, still burning green, "I had something worth living for." Her eyes widened.

"It IS you!" She exclaimed softly. Corsiva nodded, a sad smile appearing on his face. After a while, he turned back around. "What happened to you, Drake?" Chara questioned.

"I was 12 when I fell, like you." He stated. "Six other humans had fallen in between your death and my fall. All of those other humans had been killed. I wasn't quite as lucky as the other humans who fell. If Sans hadn't found me at the base of that mountain when he did, I wouldn't have made it. Luckily, he somehow managed to sense my arrival, and was next to me in an instant. I was knocked unconscious in the fall, had a mild concussion, few broken ribs, and a broken left leg. Not to mention several of the cuts that I had gained from the Bullies in the weeks prior to it becoming reopened. He and Alphys put me into a healing suit, and within 5 hours, I was fully healed and ready to go.

"So what did I do? I decided to help them make a machine to make SOULs stronger, more powerful, but we needed a test subject. So I decided why not, and let them use it on me first. The machine malfunctioned, and might have sort of exploded. When the light faded and the dust cleared, I was… this." Corsiva looked at her again, and gestured to his body. "How it happened, I don't know. Somehow, though, my SOUL was made stronger."

"Strong enough to cross the barrier?" Chara asked. Corsiva shook his head.

"I don't know. I never tried it. I had a whole new chance at life down here. No single person who hated me for the sake of hating me, nobody who thought I was a freak. And if I'm being completely honest… I was scared. Not scared of Frisk, mind you, scared at the thought of her not recognizing me. And if she did recognize me, would she forgive me for what I had done? And if I wasn't able to leave, what would I say to the monsters down here about why I tried to leave? How would I explain to them about how my SOUL is so much more powerful than theirs, when they all think that I'm a regular monster?"

He closed his eyes, and sighed deeply, his hand partially covering his face.

"I just… I probably knew deep down that I would be able to leave, and that it would all turn out fine. If Frisk didn't recognize me, then I would either just live with it and become good friends with her, or I would try to get her to recognize me over time. And if she did recognize me, I would hope that she forgave me. If she did, then everything would be okay. If she didn't… well, I've always been good at thinking on my feet, even if I've had bad luck. But I was too scared to do anything." He sat in silence, his eyes glowing red, just trying to calm himself down. He suddenly realized that he had already finished healing his sister, and started to leave the room, before pausing in the doorway.

"Hey Chara?" He started.

"Yeah, Drake?" She replied. He flinched slightly at being called Drake, and hoped that she didn't see it.

"Could you not tell Frisk the truth about me?" He asked. "I want to tell her myself, eventually. It wouldn't be right for her to learn it from somebody else. Although,she might eventually figure it out on her own." Chara nodded. Corsiva gave her a grateful smile, before he closed the door quietly, and went back downstairs to the living room to wait it out.

 **A/N - UGHAUHUFHUHEUIHOIUUHAGUFHAUGH OH MAH GOD NUMERO CUATRO HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD DAY**

 **-SF**


	22. Wake Up, Musical Puzzles, Forced Battles

Frisk didn't remember when or why she fell asleep all that much, but she knew she must have at one point, because the next thing she knew, she woke up. She felt confused, and wasn't sure of where exactly she even was. For some reason, she also felt her hand extending down to feel her leg, but nothing was wrong with it. She suddenly looked up, and saw Chara floating there. Frisk suddenly felt an extremely bad headache, and groaned in pain, clutching her temple. Chara, hearing her groan, suddenly realized that Frisk was awake, and turned to look at her, concerned.

"You okay?" She asked. Frisk nodded.

"I'm fine," she dismissed, "just confused. Where are we? Where's Corsiva?" Chara smiled at her.

"Maybe you should walk out that door and see." She replied. Frisk, confused, got up from what she realized was a bed, and looked around a bit. The room she was in was very… familiar, to say the least.

Next to the bed that Frisk was sleeping on was a bedside table with an alarm clock on top of it. The time read 3:30 p.m. and the clock itself was in the shape of the Time Circuits inside of the DeLorean from Back to the Future. Also on the table was the stick that Frisk had been carrying with her through the entire underground up until that point. She grabbed hold of her stick again, and looked around more. The walls were covered with various different things. On three of the walls, there were dozens of shelves, which in themselves were covered in different gadgets and machines. On another, there was a poster, a framed photograph, and a calendar. The poster was one of Mettaton's posters from Hotland, with a note attached to it.

"Thanks for help with designing the new body! -Alphys." The note read. The calendar dated back to 2020, though there wasn't really anything on it until halfway through July, which was slightly confusing, but Frisk didn't really think anything of it.

The photograph was of Corsiva, Sans, and Papyrus, all standing in front of their home. They were all smiling. This, too, had a message attached to it; it appeared to be written directly into the glass of the picture frame, and in permanent marker.

"Having a new family doesn't mean that you forget about the last, does it?" The note didn't have a signature, but Frisk thought she could guess from the handwriting (which also felt familiar) that it was Corsiva's writing, though that didn't answer what the question meant. The photograph looked slightly dusty, like it had been in there for a while. Looking closely, she saw that it was taken about 3 years earlier. She stepped back from the photograph, though she looked at it slightly fondly for a few more seconds, before turning away to look more at the room.

There was a glass sliding door opposite the regular door, with the curtains drawn. She curiously walked to the door, and opened it. Immediately, she felt the brisk wind rush over her body, and she knew where she was. She walked further out onto the balcony, looked around, and sure enough, she was in Snowdin Town. She looked around further, and found out that she was on the balcony connected to the Skelebros' house. She walked back inside after breathing in the cold fresh air, and closed the sliding door again.

Frisk was stunned to find out that the bed she had been sleeping on was not only in the shape of the jaw of a large animal skull, but was also floating above the ground. She started to wonder how it was doing that, before she just pushed the thought aside for later. Nothing in the Underground ever made sense, anyways. She opened up a closet in the corner of the room, and saw that the only things inside of it were identical copies of the black dress shirt that Corsiva had been wearing the entire time Frisk had seen him. In the corner of the closet was a neat pile of precisely folded black dress pants and khaki pants. She rolled her eyes slightly, before closing the closet, and moving on to the dresser. Inside of the drawers were other articles of clothing, mostly various pop-culture T-Shirts and pairs of Jeans. There was another drawer filled with Black Socks, and another filled with shoes varying from dress shoes to tennis shoes to sandals.

"Find anything interesting?" Somebody suddenly asked from behind Frisk, causing her to jump. She turned around, slightly embarrassed, and saw Corsiva standing in the now open doorway, leaning casually against the frame, a black mug in his hand, which he was currently sipping out of. If the mug wasn't covering his mouth, Frisk would have bet that he was smirking. Instead, she decided to ask something.

"You brought me back to Snowdin?" She asked him. He nodded slightly, bringing his mug, which upon closer inspection was covered in Coffee puns, such as "I'm Getting A Sense Of Déjà Brew," and "Your Coffee Puns Are Lukewarm At Best," down from his mouth. "

Yeah, I did."

"You didn't have to…" Frisk's words broke off into embarrassed mumbling. Corsiva rolled his eyes.

"You were missing a part of your leg, Frisk. I kind of DID have to take you here so you could heal up and get some rest."

Frisk suddenly felt her arm move down to feel her leg again, but just like last time, it was completely fine.

"How did my leg heal?" She asked.

"You know, eventually you're going to have to realize that my answer for pretty much all of your questions will be magic. But if you want to be more specific, I did it. Monsters have the ability to use healing magic on other people, but not on themselves. I'm pretty sure that humans used to be able to use it, too, but I'm not entirely positive. One of my problems is that I'm not… confident, for lack of a better word, in my healing abilities. Okay, that's not true, I'm perfectly confident in all of my abilities. But I'm unable to heal a person when feeling immense stress. I need a bit of calm in the world around me when I heal, or at least enough quiet to let my non existent brain slow down and process things, if only for a few seconds. It's not exactly safe to try and heal somebody when stressed. The last recorded time somebody tried that, things… didn't exactly go as planned, and the monster they were healing may or may not have ended up with six fingers, five hands, two heads, one leg, and no internal organs other than one kidney." Frisk flinched at the thought.

"So… unless you're calm, you won't be able to heal me?" Frisk questioned, wanting confirmation. Corsiva nodded. "And that's why you brought me back to your home."

"That, and the fact that we were surrounded by spider webs, and you said you hate spiders, and there was a perfectly nice bed sitting in my room back at home, as well as a perfectly comfy couch for me to sleep on while you stole my bed." The two of them smiled at each other for a few seconds. The silence was broken by Chara clearing her throat loudly, making Frisk jump again.

"If you two are done talking with each other," She started her snarky remark, "could we please get moving again? We need to get back to Hotland."

"No, really?" Frisk remarked just as snarkily, "I thought we were going to stay here for the rest of eternity." Corsiva chuckled at the banter between the two.

"I think I'm having too much of an influence on you two." He held his hand out for Frisk to take. "Do you trust me?" He asked her. She smirked at him.

"Are you making an Aladdin reference, because the answer to my question is the same as the answer to yours." She took his hand, and the two shifted back to Hotland, with Chara following behind them, being attached to Frisk and all. As they reappeared, Frisk gave a slight intake of breath, nearly losing her balance.

"You good?" Corsiva asked her.

"Yeah," She reassured him. "Just not used to doing that quite yet." Corsiva smirked again.

"I would say you get used to it," He started jokingly, "but I don't exactly have any internal organs, so I never really feel anything when I do it." He flinched. "Okay, that's not true. When I first did it, my SOUL was slightly damaged at the moment, and using any form of magic would hurt me physically. And, uh, when I did it then, my knees kinda buckled from the pain." Frisk smiled at him slightly, before looking around to see where she was. She was right outside of Muffet's lair, and in front of a large room. To their left was a poster of Mettaton, declaring that a show was about to start soon. Corsiva eyed the poster suspiciously for a few seconds, before they all moved forward.

Corsiva quickly deduced that they were on a stage of some kind, and based on the poster, it didn't take long for him to guess that they were going to be part of Mettaton's musical. Also on the stage was a small balcony on top of a hill, with a staircase leading up to it. And as soon as the three friends had reached the center of the stage, a robotic voice echoed out from behind a wall on the balcony, right on cue.

"OH? THAT HUMAN…" Mettaton's head popped out from behind the wall, and he continued. "COULD IT BE…?" His entire body appeared from behind the wall, showing the rectangular robot wearing a light blue dress that looked to be ripped straight out of Cinderella, despite the mechanical machination being male. "...MY ONE TRUE LOVE?"

As beautiful music started playing in the background, and Mettaton made his way down the stairs, Corsiva groaned internally, and only internally. He knew that Mettaton would be pretty upset if he outwardly expressed negative feelings towards anything Mettaton did, especially considering the fact that he himself had appeared as a guest for Mettaton's TV shows on several different occasions. So, he kept his mouth shut, despite how much he was cringing on the inside at the whole situation. As Mettaton finally came to the bottom of the stairs, he completely disregarded Corsiva, and sang along to the music.

" _Oh my love, Please run away, Monster King, forbids your stay. Humans must, Live far apart, Even if, It breaks my heart. They'll put you, In the dungeon, It'll suck, And then you'll die a lot. Really sad, You're gonna die, Cry cry cry, So sad it's happening._ " Corsiva let out a sigh, slightly grateful that the song was over. "SO SAD. SO SAD THAT YOU ARE GOING TO THE DUNGEON." Mettaton was silent for a whole half of a second. "WELL, TOODLES!" At these words, exactly as Corsiva and Frisk had predicted upon hearing him talk about how sad it was, the floor opened up beneath them, causing them to fall down into another room. Corsiva used his Blue Magic to slow down her descent and straighten out her rapidly spinning body, thereby ensuring that she would suffer less damage from the fall than normal, and causing her to land gracefully on her feet. Corsiva, too managed to land on his feet unharmed, for a few different reasons. But, if he was explaining how, he would just say the following: "The laws of physics don't apply to me."

Mettaton came into view once more only a few seconds later, the wheel located on the bottom of his mechanical vessel no longer visible, replaced with thrusters that were now allowing him to hover above the ground.

"OH NO! WHATEVER SHALL I DO? MY LOVE HAS BEEN CAST AWAY INTO THE DUNGEON. A DUNGEON WITH A PUZZLE SO DASTARDLY, MY PARAMOUR WILL SURELY PERISH!" Corsiva turned around, already having an idea as to what the puzzle could be, and he wasn't disappointed. Because, sitting right there, on the ground in front of him, was none other than...

"O, HEAVENS HAVE MERCY! THE HORRIBLE COLORED TILE MAZE!" _**Be right back.**_ Corsiva thought to Frisk, before shifting away, and up. As he reappeared, he summoned a blaster to sit on, too far up for anybody to see him, and he started examining the puzzle, only partially listening to Mettaton's words.

"EACH COLORED TILE HAS ITS OWN SADISTIC FUNCTION. FOR EXAMPLE, A GREEN TILE WILL SOUND A NOISE, AND THEN YOU MUST FIGHT A MONSTER. RED TILES WILL…ACTUALLY, WAIT A SECOND. DIDN'T WE SEE THIS PUZZLE ABOUT A HUNDRED ROOMS AGO? THAT'S RIGHT. YOU REMEMBER ALL THE RULES, DON'T YOU?" Frisk started shaking her head furiously, terrified at how complicated the puzzle looked, but Corsiva at that moment decided to shift back down to where she was, and nodded.

"Yes, we do." He answered for Frisk.

Frisk wheeled around to stare at him, a horrified expression on her face, to which Corsiva merely winked. _**Trust me.**_ He told her mentally. Her face slowly changed from horror and confusion to bold cockiness and trust. _**You were studying the puzzle?**_ Corsiva gave a small nod, so small that only she and Chara could notice it. _**We've got this in the bag.**_ He smirked.

"GREAT... THEN I WON'T WASTE YOUR TIME REPEATING THEM! OH, AND YOU'D BETTER HURRY. BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T GET THROUGH IN 30 SECONDS... YOU'LL BE INCINERATED BY THESE JETS OF FIRE!" Corsiva turned around to see if what Mettaton had said was true, and sure enough, there was an entire wall of fire behind them. His eyes widened, and his smirk disappeared slightly. _**Okay, so this might have just gotten a bit more difficult.**_ He told his sister. _**You think?**_ Frisk asked him.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA! AHAHA... HA... HA! MY POOR LOVE! I'M SO FILLED WITH GRIEF, I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING! GOOD LUCK, DARLINGS!" The moment that Mettaton said this last thing and the timer started, Corsiva had grabbed Frisk's hand and pulled her along with him through the puzzle. His nonexistent brain was rushing to provide the visual memory of what the path looked like from above, and inputting a visual aid to help signify where he actually was in present time. As they moved through the puzzle, Mettaton sang a different tune, with a much darker tone.

" _Oh my love, Has fallen down, Now in tears, We all will drown. Colored tiles, Make them a fool, If only they, Still knew the rules._ " Corsiva saw the end of the puzzle approaching fast, and simultaneously saw the timer tick down to ten seconds. With a burst of speed, he dashed through the remaining tiles with Frisk, fueled by… something.

" _Well that was, A sorry try, Now let's watch, Them fry._ " Just as they crossed back onto regular ground, finishing the puzzle, the timer hit one second. Corsiva took a deep breath, glad that they made it through, and feeling slightly tensed at the fact that they had cut it so close.

"CONGRATULATIONS! YOU MADE IT THROUGH THE PUZZLE!" Mettaton congratulated them, with a small clap. "AND NOW, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, THE FLAMES BE DEACTIVATED! NO! MORE! FIRE!" At these words, the walls of fire dispersed, and Corsiva took a breath, glad that Frisk was out of danger.

"BUT IT'S AS THE PHRASE GOES. 'OUT OF THE FIRE, AND INTO THE FRYING PAN.'"

"Uh, I'm pretty sure that's not how the saying goes." Corsiva pointed out, which Mettaton ignored.

"THAT'S RIGHT, DARLINGS! EVEN IF YOU MANAGE TO BEAT THE HEAT... YOU'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND MY HOT METAL BODY!"

"And that's about 17 weeks worth of fan-fiction material for some people. Probably longer."

"PREPARE YOURSELF FOR MY-" Right at that moment, Frisk got a phone call. She pulled out her phone, and spoke.

"It's Alphys," She said, before answering.

"Watch out!" Alphys exclaimed, and Corsiva thought that it was odd that she was calling so late after they got past the puzzle. It was slightly suspicious, but he put it off to the side. Alphys was his friend, and he trusted her. She always had her reasons whenever she did anything.

"I'll save you! Flames, deactivate! …Huh?" Alphys sounded confused at what happened.

"THE HUMAN FINISHED THE PUZZLE. I ALREADY TURNED OFF THE FLAMES. IN FACT, I WAS ABOUT TO FIGHT THE HUMAN." Mettaton explained to the Royal Scientist what had happened, almost in a patient, yet impatient way. Like this was all just one of his shows, and he was trying to remind one of the actors what was going on so they would remember their line. _**Hmmm.**_ He thought to himself. _**Come to think of it, that IS the exact same tone Mettaton uses whe**_

 _ **never that happens on one of his shows. It could be a coincidence, but I should keep that in mind at least.**_

"Wh-wh-what?" Alphys sounded even more confused, and a bit impressed even. "TH-THAT puzzle? I mean, uhh… Great job! We've got him on the ropes, now!" Alphys quickly was able to regain herself.

"ON THE ROPES? HA! I ONLY DEACTIVATED THE FLAMES KNOWING THAT ALPHYS WOULD HAVE ANYWAY." Mettaton paused, trying to remember what he was doing before Alphys interrupted. "NOW, WHERE WERE WE? OH YES. I WAS GOING TO ERADICATE YOU!" Corsiva's speaker started playing a tune called "Metal Crusher," which Corsiva thought was certainly fitting.

"Any tips on how to fight this guy?" Frisk asked Corsiva.

"Uhhh, you kind of can't?" He said sheepishly, rubbing his neck. "His box form is, Uhh, kind of completely and totally impervious to physical attacks." Frisk's mouth dropped to the ground.

"THIS IS IT, DARLING! SAY GOODBYE!" Just as Mettaton was about to attack, the phone started ringing again. "IS THAT YOUR PHONE? YOU'D BETTER ANSWER IT!" Mettaton advised them.

"Good thing this is the underground, where everybody just completely stops whatever they're doing and freezes in place whenever you talk on the phone with somebody." Chara quipped, making Corsiva have to suppress a chuckle.

Frisk answered her phone again, which had somehow hung up when Mettaton attacked.

"Hello?" She answered.

"H-Hey!" Alphys greeted when the phone was answered. "Th-this seems bad, but don't worry! Th-there's one last thing I installed on your phone...!" Frisk gave a small sigh of relief. "You see that yellow button...? Press it!" Frisk did as the doctor said, to see her SOUL appear, only to turn… _yellow._ As Frisk's body itself also started glowing yellow, her eyes widened in shock at what was happening. Corsiva thought back to the book on SOUL colors and their meanings. _**Blue, Green, Cyan, Orange, Purple, Yellow, Red, and White. Blue-Integrity, Green-Kindness, Cyan-Patience, Orange-Bravery, Purple-Perseverance, and Yellow-Justice. Justice; what are the abilities entailed with that? True-sight is one- the ability to see the people around you as they truly are. Their true intentions, their true hopes, dreams, whether or not they deserve mercy. And… what was the other one?**_ Suddenly, it hit him.

"Now, uhhh, I guess, you just uhhh…" Alphys was lost, unsure where to go from here, but Corsiva knew what to do.

"Hey!" Corsiva caught Frisk's attention. "You see your SOUL is yellow now, right?" He asked her, which she nodded in response to. "I want you to hold your arm out, and extend your hand. Kind of like what I do to move you with Blue Magic." Frisk did as he asked, a bit confused as to what this was for. He corrected her posture a bit. "Now, have it so you're pointing your hand at Mettaton." She again obliged, becoming less confused by the second.

"Now, since you're still a beginner, and you don't know what you're doing, I want you to close your eyes, and envision a small ball of light with all of your concentration." Frisk closed her eyes, and within a few seconds, a small yellow orb started pouring out from under the surface of her skin, still attached to the palm of her hand, yet ready to detach at any moment. Her eyes opened, and she saw the orb inside of her hand.

"Now, check your aim, and… release!" At these last words, the orb detached from Frisk's hand, and shot through the air like a laser, hitting Mettaton, who stumbled back slightly.

"OOOH!" The Mechanical Monster exclaimed. "OOOOOOOH! YOU'VE DEFEATED ME!" Corsiva kept himself from snickering, as Mettaton spouted out these words, sounding pretty scripted, and backing away slowly. "HOW CAN THIS BE, YOU WERE STRONGER THAN I THOUGHT, ETC. WHATEVER." As he flew away, Frisk gave out a sigh of relief. Chara, too, looked slightly relieved.

 **A/N - Alright, that's number 5. We're getting there. Make sure to comment and/or review, have a good day.**

 **-SF**


	23. Confidence Boosts, Truths, and A Story

"L-looks like you beat him!" Alphys told the three. "Th-thanks, C-Corsiva, for explaining it for me! Y-you guys did a really great job out there."

"It was all thanks to you, Alphys." Frisk responded kindly, causing Corsiva to give her a meaningful look. _**Thank you.**_ He mentally communicated, earning a nod and a shrug from Frisk.

"What? Oh no, I mean… You guys were the ones doing everything cool! I just wrote some silly programs for your phone."

"Alphys, you still should take some credit for what you did." Corsiva advised her. "Without what you did, well, we probably wouldn't have been able to do any of that anyways. In your own way, you did just as much as us. Don't take that from yourself." There were a few seconds of silence.

"Umm, h-hey, this might sound strange but… c-can I tell you something?"

"Go ahead." Frisk urged.

"B-before I met you, I d-didn't really… I didn't really like myself very much. For a long time, I f-felt like a total screw up. L-like I couldn't do anything without… w-without ending up letting everyone down.

"B-but…! Guiding you has made me feel… a lot better about myself. So… thanks for letting me help you."

"You're welcome…?" Frisk wasn't quite sure how to respond to what Alphys had just unloaded onto her. Corsiva gave her a small smile as a thanks for helping Alphys.

"Uhhh, anyway, we're almost to the CORE." Alphys explained, getting right back on track. "It's just past MTT Resort. Come on! Let's finish this!"

"Will do, Alphys." Frisk responded, before hanging up and putting her phone back into her pocket. She looked over at Corsiva, who was now beaming at her.

"What?" She asked, slightly confused.

"Thank you." He suddenly said.

"For what?" Frisk asked him.

"For helping Alphys. She's always been self deprecating in some way, at least to my knowledge. She never really had confidence in herself, but recently… a few years ago, it got worse somehow. Nothing could get through to her and explain that she was a good person, and that she needed to be more confident of herself. I tried for years before this, to no avail.

"And now, you come here. And only like an hour and a half after you've met her, you're already making progress that I haven't made in four years. She's already more confident in what she's doing, more confident of herself. For that, for helping my friend, my family, words cannot describe how grateful I am. Thank you." Frisk smiled at him.

"If words can't describe how thankful you are, can anything else?" She asked innocently. Corsiva was silent for a few seconds, just thinking. Suddenly, he rushed over to Frisk, and wrapped her into a hug. She was surprised; the only other person in the entire underground to even attempt to hug her before then without her input was Toriel. The hug that Corsiva gave her wasn't quite like Toriel's hug; it felt different. Almost familiar, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Regardless, she accepted the somehow warm and comforting hug from the skeleton in front of her. They held it for a few seconds, completely silent.

When they finally broke apart, they stared at each other thoughtfully for a few seconds.

"You can't pass through the barrier." Corsiva suddenly started quietly.

"What?" Frisk responded, extremely confused. "What do you mean? I'm a human, I have a powerful SOUL."

"I wish it was different, but being human isn't enough. In order to pass through the barrier, you need to have more than just a Human SOUL. It doesn't matter how powerful your SOUL is, if it only equals the natural power of one Human or one monster, you can't pass through. It has to be equal to the power of one Human SOUL… combined with one Monster SOUL." Frisk looked at him meaningfully.

"I think that I always knew." She told him. "Deep down, I feel like I just thought it would be obvious that eventually I would learn something like that."

"That's not all. The only way to absorb something's SOUL is to… kill the host. A human can't absorb another human SOUL, a monster can't absorb a monster SOUL. But that's not the main problem. Monster SOULs can only persist as long as the host body is alive. If the monster is alive, the SOUL is there. Human SOULs can persist long after death. But when monsters die, they immediately turn to dust. And when they turn to dust, their SOUL shatters with them. The ONLY exception, and I do mean ONLY, is a rare species of monsters. 'Boss Monsters.' Their SOULs are powerful enough that, after they turn to dust, their SOUL will appear, for a few seconds. ONLY a few seconds. There is a very small chance that you would be able to absorb the SOUL in those few seconds. And, well, because of overpopulation in the Underground, there are only two Boss Monsters left in existence. You've already met one of them, back in the Ruins. Take a gander who the other one is.

"I'm sorry, but that's your only chance of leaving the Underground. You… if you want to leave, and go back to the Surface, you have… you have to kill Asgore." Corsiva fell silent, feeling sorrowful. In all honesty, he hadn't meant to start off with that in the first place. It had just sort of slipped out. He had been intending on telling Frisk the truth about who he was, not the truth about how she couldn't even go home anymore. But, hey, what can ya do, right? It happened, and now he would have to find some way to deal with it.

"I… I don't know if I'll be able…" Frisk whispered faintly, sounding terrified at the thought. Corsiva looked away from his sister, not sure he could bear the sight of her like this.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way. From me. You should have had somebody else explain it to you. I just made things worse." He felt bitter with himself. "And now, I'm becoming a hypocrite. I can't do one thing without immediately going back on my own words and hating myself again."

Suddenly, he felt Frisk grab his hand. Her touch was gentle, soft. Just as he had remembered it.

"Corsiva, don't say that. You were, you are, the best person to explain that to me. Anyone else would be overly negative, or hide the negativities altogether and shroud my judgement with sayings of positive encouragement, keeping me from seeing things how they really are. You, somehow, are neither of those things. You manage to tell me how things truly are. Completely unbiased. You tell me how low my chances are, but you manage to keep me positive somehow. You let me know all sides of the story, you show me a complete image. Nothing is missing in this picture. That is a very unique, very fantastic, a very wonderful thing."

She pulled him closer. "You are amazing, Corsiva. You are realistic, yet you dream big." Corsiva felt his head get pulled down slightly so that his gaze was directed into the eyes of his sibling. "You are full of energy, yet you remain slow and let life ease it's way over to you." His head was pulled down further, so that it was completely level with Frisk's own. "You are a massive pile of contradictions, but that's what makes you so spectacular. Never forget that. And don't talk bad about yourself. You are wonderful. You are spectacular. You are fantastic. You are my best friend."

"…And you just may be the only person who can ever understand me, Frisk." They were silent for a few seconds.

"What kind of a pair are we?" Frisk asked him.

"That is a good question," Corsiva replied jokingly. "One that you may find the answer to eventually, but not right now. Right now, we need to get a move on. You've still gotta get past the CORE, and up to… King Asgore." The two of them were silent again.

"Are we really that close to the end already?" Frisk asked him. He nodded sadly. "I… I don't know if I want to go just yet…" She started, looking away.

"I know." Corsiva responded. "But you'll eventually have to face him. Eventually, you'll have to make your choice, as with all things. Take his SOUL and go home, remain trapped in the Underground forever, or die by his hand, and let him go to war with the humans on the Surface… but, I guess… you could prolong meeting him… at least for a little bit longer. I mean, if you want to, of course." Frisk smiled at him.

"Maybe." She said. They started moving forward again when Chara decided to remind them of her presence by way of coughing _extremely_ loudly. Corsiva almost had to stifle a snicker, as they passed by the Nice Cream vendor from Snowdin, as well as two of the Royal Guard members. When they moved forward a bit more, they saw…

"Sans!" Frisk exclaimed upon seeing the skeleton.

"Hey, bro." Corsiva greeted nonchalantly.

"hey." Sans replied to the two of them. "i heard you were going to the CORE. how about grabbing some dinner with me first?" Frisk looked at Corsiva, who shrugged.

"I think we've got time." He replied for Frisk.

"great, thanks for treating me." Sans said to them. "over here. i know a shortcut." Sans led Frisk over to an alley that led to a brick wall. Corsiva, realizing what Sans was doing, followed along. As soon as he saw Sans and Frisk start to disappear, Corsiva waited for them both to be inside of the room, before he decided to defy logic and physics, and walked directly through the wall.

"I'll set the mood." Corsiva told his biological sister and his adoptive brother, before walking off to find a piano. After finding out that there was no piano, Corsiva shifted away, leaned against a piano elsewhere, and shifted the piano with him back to the MTT Resort.

When he got back, the two of them were sitting down at a table, in seats across from each other. He quickly pulled a chair over to the piano, and, sitting down, began to play a tune.

"well, here we are." Sans started talking to Frisk. "so. your journey's almost over, huh? you must really wanna go home." Frisk nodded slightly. "hey. i know the feeling, buddo. though… maybe sometimes it's better to take what's given to you." Corsiva could swear he saw Sans' eyes dart over in his direction for a fraction of a second, but they were quickly back on Frisk. "down here you've already got food, drink, friends… is what you have to do… really worth it?" Frisk was silent, unsure of what to say. At this point, she was wondering the same thing. "ah, forget it. i'm rootin' for ya, kid." The two of them sat in silence for a few seconds once more.

"let me tell you a story. so i'm a sentry in snowdin forest, right? i sit out there and watch for humans. it's kind of boring. fortunately, deep in the forest… there's this HUGE locked door." Frisk looked up at Sans again, her curiosity returning slightly. "and it's perfect for practicing knock knock jokes.

"so one day, i'm knocking em' out, like usual. i knock on the door and say 'knock knock.' and suddenly, from the other side… i hear a woman's voice." Frisk smiled slightly, she had a good idea of who the woman was. "'who is there?' so naturally, i respond: 'dishes.' 'dishes who?' 'dishes a very bad joke.' then she just howls with laughter. like it's the best joke she's heard in a hundred years. so i keep 'em coming, and she keeps laughing. she's the best audience i've ever had. then, after a dozen of 'em, SHE knocks and says… 'knock knock!' i say 'who's there?' 'old lady!' 'old lady who?' 'oh! i did not know you could yodel!' wow." Sans was grinning, remembering that day.

"needless to say, this woman was extremely good. we kept telling each other jokes for hours. eventually, i had to leave. papyrus gets kind of cranky without his bedtime story." Frisk grinned at this. "but she told me to come by again, and so i did. then i did again. and again. it's a thing now. telling bad jokes through the door. it rules."

Sans was silent for a few seconds, before continuing: "one day, though, i noticed she wasn't laughing very much. i asked her what was up. then she told me something strange. 'if a human ever comes through this door… could you please, please promise me something? watch over them, and protect them, will you not?' now, i hate making promises. and this woman, i don't even know her name. but… someone who sincerely likes bad jokes… has an integrity you can't say 'no' to. do you get what i'm saying? that promise i made to her… you know what would have happened if she hadn't said anything? … buddy." Corsiva stopped playing, and the resort went deadly silent, as Sans' pupils disappeared.

"… You'd be dead where you stand." Frisk was staring at Sans, a terrified expression on her face. She didn't know whether to feel terrified, or think that Sans was joking, but the tension with which he said what he did chilled her to the bone. Sans' pupils manifested again, and Corsiva continued playing.

"hey, lighten up, bucko! i'm just joking with you. besides… haven't i done a great job at protecting you? i mean, look at yourself. you haven't died a single time." Frisk had a strange expression on her face; she knew that what Sans had just said wasn't completely true. "hey, what's that look supposed to mean? am i wrong…? heh. well, that's all." Sans stood up, and started walking away. He suddenly stopped, and looked back at Frisk. "take care of yourself, kid. 'cause someone really cares about you." And with that, he turned away from Frisk once more, and left.

 **A/N - This is number six, right? Two more. We can do this. Comment and/or review, have a good day, yadda yadda yadda. Peace.**

 **-SF**


	24. The CORE Of The Problem

Frisk slowly stood up, as Corsiva finished playing on the piano, and stood up as well.

"Take my hand." He told Frisk, who obliged. Corsiva grabbed onto the piano in front of him with magic, and shifted away to where he got the piano from.

"Oh, I recognize this place!" Frisk said aloud, looking at where they were. "I played a song on the piano to get into that room up there!" She pointed at a hole in the wall in front of them.

"Oh, you got past Undyne's puzzle?" Corsiva asked her. "Yeah, Undyne hates puzzles. She practically refuses to make them. I'm pretty positive that the only reason that she made this one was because it gave her a reason to put a piano somewhere. She loves to play the piano. And speaking of Undyne…" Corsiva and Frisk shifted away once more, so that they were now standing outside of Undyne's house, with Papyrus standing out front.

"I think that you still have to hang out with her and Papyrus." Frisk looked at Corsiva, surprised.

"Are you sure?" She asked him.

"Trust me. I'll make sure nothing happens to you." Frisk looked nervous, but nodded nonetheless.

"How bad could it be?" She asked to nobody in particular. Corsiva grinned at her.

" _There's_ the type of enthusiasm I'm looking for." Corsiva responded. She was right. How bad could things possibly get?

Very bad. Very, _very_ bad. Barely 10 minutes had passed, and already the table had a spear running through it and the window had a Papyrus shaped hole. Also, the house was kind of… on fire. Thankfully, everybody inside had managed to get out before anybody was hurt.

"Well, on the bright side," Corsiva started, brushing flames off of his shoulder, "at least Undyne's your friend now. And hey! She doesn't want you dead, either! It's a win win!" Frisk chuckled a bit.

"Maybe we should just get back to the CORE." She said. "I still need to meet Asgore." Corsiva sighed, and grabbed her hand. In an instant, they were back at MTT Resort.

"Give me a second." He told Frisk. "I'm gonna get us some food." Frisk shrugged, and Corsiva walked into the small restaurant/shop connected to the resort.

"What's up?" Corsiva asked the person inside of the store, who everybody called 'Burgerpants.'

"Welcome to MTT-Brand Burger Emporium, home of the Glamburger." They put on a pained expression. "Sparkle up your day™. What can I do for you?"

Burgerpants was only 3 years older than Corsiva, and they had only met a few times, but Corsiva knew that Burgerpants was extremely unhappy with his life choices. According to him, he was only 19, and he'd already wasted his life.

"Can I get you a better job, with a side of a bright future?" Corsiva joked.

"Unfortunately, no." Burgerpants didn't sound very amused. "You can only buy things on the menu, but I appreciate the thought, Corsiva." Corsiva frowned.

"In that case, I'll take two Starfaits, and four Glamburgers." Burgerpants sighed.

"At least we're chock full of everything." He muttered to himself, before putting the things on the countertop. "That'll be 600 Gold, sir." Corsiva put the money on the counter. "Sir, I said 600 Gold, not 850."

"Keep the change, move somewhere else, and get a better job." Corsiva told him. Burgerpants nodded.

"Thanks, buddy." He said somewhat gratefully. And with that, Corsiva put the food into his pockets, and walked out to Frisk again.

"Alright, let's go." He told her, and the two of them walked into the CORE, ready for whatever was going to come next.

As they stepped inside of the CORE, the colorful lights flashing all around them, they saw a few people enter the labyrinth, and Frisk got a phone call.

"Huh? Who are they?" Alphys asked nobody in particular.

"I can't tell, they're somehow hidden in darkness." Corsiva replied, squinting.

"N-nobody else is s-supposed to be here…" Alphys sounded nervous, but that wasn't anything new.

"Oh well! We can't worry about that now!" Frisk nodded, and she, as well as Corsiva and Chara, walked inside of the place. Upon entering, they saw an elevator in front of them, and two paths on either side of it.

"Ready? This is it! Take the elevator up to the top of the CORE!" Frisk walked forward, and pressed the button. Nothing happened, and both elevator buttons remained dark.

"Uh, Alphys, the elevator isn't working." Corsiva told his friend.

"What? The elevator should be working… W-well then! Go to the right and keep heading up!" Frisk, Corsiva, and Chara all went up to the right, only to find that they were now on a balcony, and there was no way to go forward from here.

"Oh, fun. A giant pit inside of the CORE that any person could fall into. That isn't daunting at all."

"…That pit… isn't on my map. Forget it! Let's try the left side!" Corsiva steered Frisk over to the left path.

"Okay, you should be able to make it through here…" Alphys started, sounding very nervous. Suddenly, a figure came forward, and started to commence battle with Frisk.

"W-watch out!" Alphys warned Frisk, but it was too late, she was already engaged in battle.

Corsiva recognized the monster as Madjick, a monster particularly interested in street magic, and swindling the people who view his "performances." He was a fan of trickery, confusion tactics, and for some reason, interrupting people. Frisk immediately began her pacifism tactics.

"Look, if you would just let me get by-" But, as she spoke, Madjick interrupted her.

"NOPE!" Madjick started cackling to himself, and attacked Frisk. Frisk, ever agile and fast, dodged his magic bullets, just trying to survive.

"Get away from her!" Corsiva shouted at the street magician, and pushed him back with Blue Magic, causing the monster to run away in fear.

"Th-that was close…" Alphys started, sounding confused, scared, and apprehensive.

"Wh… why are there so many monsters here? I mean… it's no problem, r-r-right?" The Royal Scientist quickly regained herself. "W-w-we've just got to keep heading forward!" Alphys was silent, and the group continued moving forward.

"Think I should use SOUL Vision?" Corsiva asked Frisk. She shook her head.

"I don't think you'll need to." She replied confidently. Chara looked at her, a bit unsure. "If anybody else tries to attack me, I can defend myself, and you know how and when to intervene in a battle if it's needed. Plus, I trust Alphys." Corsiva could practically hear Alphys blush over the phone. They walked through the door, with Alphys carefully watching them over the cameras. As soon as they entered, they saw a force field blocking their path, a switch, and three laser emitters.

"Looks like you can't proceed until you hit the switch." Alphys noted. "B-but, those lasers will activate when you do. Ummm… looks like they'll come in this order: Orange, Orange, Blue. G-got it? Move until the third one!" Frisk carefully started moving forward towards the switch on the wall, when Corsiva picked her up with Blue Magic.

"I'll do it." He told her. "Just in case Mettaton changed the pattern." Frisk nodded.

"Th-that sounds like a good idea." Alphys said.

Corsiva walked over to the switch, double checked that Frisk was above the path of the Lasers, and flipped the switch. Immediately, the laser emitters activated, and rushed towards Corsiva, as the force field disappeared. Ironically enough, the pattern of the lasers was color swapped of what Alphys told them: Blue, Blue, Orange. Corsiva quickly changed his course of movement, and stood still for half of a second while the Blue lasers passed through him, before moving through the Orange laser.

"Oh my god… are you okay?" Alphys asked Corsiva, sounding shocked and concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Corsiva replied nonchalantly.

"I… I'm so sorry, I… I gave you the wrong order."

"Alphys, it's fine. It was a simple mistake, nobody was hurt by it. Stop worrying so much, you're fine, I'm fine, we're all fine." Corsiva tried to encourage Alphys as he carefully set Frisk down on solid ground on the other side of the bridge.

Alphys was silent for a few seconds, as Corsiva himself crossed the bridge.

"Everything's going to be fine, okay?" Alphys eventually tried to make up for her mistake by reassuring the group, though most likely it was more directed towards herself.

"L-let's just keep heading to the right." Corsiva, Frisk, and Chara did just that, to find another crossroads, this time with one path going up, and one path going right.

"A crossroads… uhh… uhh… tr… try heading to the right!" Alphys tried giving directions. As soon as they passed the path heading upwards, Alphys went back on her decision.

"W-wait! No, I think you should h-head up!" The group backtracked a few steps, and went upwards instead. They were immediately confronted by a person in a large suit of armor, with some kind of staff that had the sun symbol engraved on it.

"Not again!" Frisk moaned. "Any tips on this person?" Corsiva examined the monster, and as soon as he recognized them, he formulated a plan.

"This staff wielding person is named Knight Knight." He started, his eyes glowing as he began viewing the monster's stats. "LV: 1/20. EXP: 0. AT: 36. DF: 36. HP: 230/230. This megaton mercenary wields the Good Morningstar. If you encounter them, and there's another monster with them, it will most likely be Madjick, the last guy you faced. For some reason, Knight Knight here, is very sleepy. Maybe she doesn't get enough sleep at night, or she just always lacks energy, but she's very prone to fall asleep if a song she listens to is calming enough. My recommendation, try and find a way to make her fall asleep."

"What, like a lullaby?" Chara asked Corsiva. Frisk started to sing an old lullaby from her childhood. Corsiva instantly remembered it; it was a song that he would sing to her at the orphanage when she was sad or crying, so he could calm her down and get her to sleep. It apparently worked, because Knight Knight's eyes instantly began drooping. She still attacked Frisk, but the attacks were significantly slower than normal. Frisk suddenly snapped her fingers, her head shooting up.

"Got it! I faced Shyren when I was in waterfall, I remember her song!" Frisk began humming Shyren's tune, and Knight Knight fell asleep after a few seconds, snoring softly.

"Nighty night, Knight Knight." Corsiva punned. "Nice work." He then complimented. Frisk blushed slightly.

"Sorry, I… I…" Alphys tried to apologize, but she seemed lost for words. "I thought that… let's try the right path instead." The group once again exited the room they were in, and took the right path. As soon as they entered, they saw a barrage of Laser Emitters, some of which were moving, some weren't.

"More lasers… okay, I… I won't mess around this time. I'll just deactivate the lasers and let you through." Alphys was silent for a few seconds, and the clacking of her keyboard could be heard over the phone. "They're… they're not turning off… I can't turn them off, I…" Alphys was silent for a few more seconds. "I-i-it's okay! I have this under control!" Alphys tried to reassure them all. "I'm going to turn off the p-power for that whole node. Then you can walk across." After a few seconds, the lasers were deactivated, and the lights shut off. "Okay, go!"

The group walked across the bridge a little bit, before coming to an entire row of laser emitters, and the lights started flashing.

"W-WAIT! STOP!" Alphys screamed at them, and they all immediately stood still, as the Lasers came back online again, encasing them in blue lasers.

"Th-the power… it's turning itself back on. D-damn it… th-this isn't supposed to… I… I'm gonna turn it off again. When it turns off, move a little, and then STOP. OK? Y-you won't get h-h-hurt." Alphys was silent again, and the lasers deactivated. Corsiva quickly pulled Frisk along with him across the bridge, before stopping, and letting the lasers pass over them again. They repeated this process a few times, until eventually, they reached the end of the bridge.

"S-see? I've got everything under control." Alphys said. "Everything's under control!" Alphys repeated, a bit more forcefully. They all continued forward, before they came to yet another Crossroads, this time with THREE paths to choose from. One going up, one going left, and one going right. Corsiva sighed, slightly exhausted, and tired of being inside of this maze.

"OK! Y-you should… you should…" Alphys trailed off. "I don't know? This doesn't look like my map at all… I'm sorry… I… I… I have to go." And with that, Alphys hung up, leaving Frisk at a loss for what to do.

"Hey Corsiva?" Chara asked Corsiva after a second of silence. "Why didn't you just teleport you and Frisk through the lasers, instead of doing that weird pattern?" Corsiva sighed softly.

"What you call teleportation, I call Quantum Shifting. To teleport is to instantly have your entire being, SOUL and body be transported somewhere else instantaneously. This is not what Quantum Shifting is. You may have heard of the Multiverse Theory, and in all technicalities, that's where Quantum Shifting gets its basis. There are several barriers separating this world from all the others. However, these barriers are not single, solid walls, rather, they are composed of multiple thin walls. Like applying multiple layers of paint. What I do is that I push my SOUL through in between these layers, and pull it back out at another location in the same world and universe. It is not, however, instantaneous teleportation. There is a very fine line between instantaneous and light speeds. I just push my SOUL to a different place at the speed of light. It's not easy to detect that kind of movement with the naked eye, but it's still possible. And I don't actually know if Quantum Shifting is Instantaneous or Light Speeds, so I don't know what could happen if I tried it. There's time to experiment, and then there's being stupid." Chara smirked at Corsiva's explanation, as Frisk shrugged.The three of them encountered many monsters as they continued to make their way through the confusing maze of puzzles, technology, and energy. Frisk, being the pacifist she was, managed to get past every single one of them without much trouble, and managed to make friends of them as she did. Well, except for Madjick, it was impossible to make him want to be your friend. Corsiva didn't truly have to help Frisk do anything much when it came to fighting the monsters. But, there was also the puzzle. For some reason, the only way to unlock the door to exit the CORE into King Asgore's castle was to do one of two things. One: They would take a more upward path, survive battling every single one of the monsters they had encountered inside of the CORE, and then flip a switch, which would unlock the door for them. Or two: They would have to complete a puzzle off to a path to the left. Frisk, being the pacifist she was, decided to go with option two.

Unfortunately for Frisk, she didn't really know how to complete the puzzle. In her defense, it was much more difficult than any of the other 'puzzles' she had tried to solve up until that point. However, much to Frisk's embarrassed thanks, Corsiva was there to see her struggling with the puzzle.

"You seem to be struggling." Corsiva told her. She gladly walked away from the puzzle.

"If you think you can do it, be my guest." She said. Corsiva rolled his eyes, and walked up to the console. The objective of the puzzle was to move all of the boxes in a way that you could shoot a laser up at a target at the top of the puzzle, and you only had one laser to shoot at the thing before the puzzle would reset, and they would have to try again. Corsiva looked at the puzzle for a whole of ten seconds, before he put his hand up to the control panel, and skillfully moved all of the boxes in a very strategic and precise way, before he pressed the button, and the laser shot out, destroying the target. The lights became dark, the puzzle stopped humming, and Corsiva stepped back away from the now deactivated puzzle, proud of himself.

"First try." He said to Frisk, looking at his sister and smirking. Frisk rolled her eyes, pretending to be annoyed, and she, Corsiva, and Chara started walking again towards the exit of the CORE.

When they got there, they saw that the door was now unlocked, allowing them to enter, and that the elevator was now working.

"Well, that's nice." Corsiva remarked sarcastically.

"It couldn't have worked when we needed it to?" Frisk asked to nobody. Corsiva smirked at her again.

"Well, that's life for you, I suppose." He stepped back from the door, and summoned his Determination. Using it, he thought hard about this point in time, and how he wanted to mark this point. Nothing happened. He frowned, slightly upset that it didn't work. Regardless, he made a little gesture for Frisk to go before him, doing a small bow as he did.

"Ladies first." Frisk rolled her eyes at him, before entering the door, and Corsiva, chuckling as he did, walked in after her.

 **A/N - hmm. that expression... that's the expression of someone who's published seven chapters in a row. hey, that's good. seven's supposed to be a lucky number. who knows, maybe you'll hit the jackpot... and that number will multiply tenfold. (Cough cough) Alright, that's enough messing around. One to go. Actually, I'm gonna go for nine. You'll see why. Have a good day.**

 **-SF**


	25. Lights, Camera, Action!

When they walked through the door, they were greeted with a small room, with another door at the other end of it, and Mettaton standing on top of a small pedestal in the center. He looked slightly annoyed.

"Well, what do we have here?" Corsiva asked the question, not hoping to get an answer. "You really don't know when you're beaten, do you?" Mettaton didn't give an answer to his question, and only spoke, somehow sounding somewhat exasperated as he did.

"OH YES. THERE YOU ARE, DARLING. IT'S TIME TO HAVE OUR LITTLE SHOWDOWN. IT'S TIME TO FINALLY STOP THE 'MALFUNCTIONING' ROBOT. ... NOT! MALFUNCTION? REPROGRAMMING? GET REAL. THIS WAS ALL JUST A BIG SHOW. AN ACT. ALPHYS HAS BEEN PLAYING YOU FOR A FOOL THE WHOLE TIME. AS SHE WATCHED YOU ON THE SCREEN, SHE GREW ATTACHED TO YOUR ADVENTURE. SHE DESPERATELY WANTED TO BE A PART OF IT. SO SHE DECIDED TO INSERT HERSELF INTO YOUR STORY. SHE REACTIVATED PUZZLES. SHE DISABLED ELEVATORS. SHE ENLISTED ME TO TORMENT YOU. ALL SO SHE COULD SAVE YOU FROM DANGERS THAT DIDN'T EXIST. ALL SO YOU WOULD THINK SHE'S THE GREAT PERSON... THAT SHE'S NOT." Corsiva was somewhat expecting something like this to be true, but it still hurt to hear Alphys being talked about like this, to hear someone saying Alphys was doing something less than moral.

"AND NOW, IT'S TIME FOR HER FINEST HOUR. AT THIS VERY MOMENT, ALPHYS IS WAITING OUTSIDE THE ROOM. DURING OUR 'BATTLE,' SHE WILL INTERRUPT. SHE WILL PRETEND TO 'DEACTIVATE' ME, 'SAVING' YOU ONE FINAL TIME. FINALLY. SHE'LL BE THE HEROINE OF YOUR ADVENTURE. YOU'LL REGARD HER SO HIGHLY SHE'LL EVEN BE ABLE TO CONVINCE YOU NOT TO LEAVE." Mettaton was silent for a few seconds, the tension high. In Corsiva's eyes, he was letting all the information sink in, letting them realize what had really been going on. In Frisk's head, things were suddenly making sense. Alphys calling late after things had already happened, Mettaton always somehow being _close_ to killing her, only for her to be rescued by Alphys.

"… OR NOT." Mettaton finished his dramatic pause, his voice slowly regaining his flare, his showmanship. "YOU SEE, I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS PREDICTABLE CHARADE. I HAVE NO DESIRE TO HARM HUMANS. FAR FROM IT, ACTUALLY. MY ONLY DESIRE IS TO ENTERTAIN. AFTER ALL, THE AUDIENCE DESERVES A GOOD SHOW, DON'T THEY?" Corsiva very quickly became aware of some of the cameras around them. "AND WHAT'S A GOOD SHOW…" Both Corsiva and Frisk noticed how the platform they were standing on looked very strangely like a stage. "…WITHOUT A PLOT TWIST?" Corsiva, Chara, and Frisk all noticed it immediately when the door behind them suddenly slammed shut, and locked itself.

They heard Alphys on the other side of the door, and heard her banging on the door.

"H-hey! Wh-wh-what's going on!? Th-th-the door just locked itself!" If Mettaton had a mouth, Corsiva was sure he would've been grinning.

"SORRY, FOLKS! THE OLD PROGRAM'S BEEN CANCELLED! BUT WE'VE GOT A FINALE THAT WILL DRIVE YOU WILD! REAL DRAMA! REAL ACTION! REAL BLOODSHED! ON OUR NEW SHOW… 'ATTACK OF THE KILLER ROBOT!'" The stage they were standing in suddenly shot up into the air, moving extremely fast, and spotlights appeared on the stage, as well as around the stage.

"YES, I WAS THE ONE THAT RE-ARRANGED THE CORE! I WAS THE ONE THAT HIRED EVERYONE TO KILL YOU! THAT, HOWEVER, WAS A SHORT-SIGHTED PLAN. YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BE A HUNDRED TIMES BETTER? KILLING YOU MYSELF!" Frisk quickly pulled out her phone, and pressed the yellow button, her SOUL once again turning yellow. She pointed the palm of her hand at Mettaton and began firing upon him, only to be shocked as the bolts bounced off of his body. "THAT WORTHLESS PEA-SHOOTER WON'T WORK ON ME, DARLING. DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT ACTING IS!?" Mettaton began attacking Frisk in response. Frisk continued to dodge the attacks, albeit with some difficulty.

"Hey, here's an idea." Corsiva started, tapping her on the shoulder. "How about you fire at the attacks instead of Mettaton? The magical power of the shot should be equal to the average magical attack." Frisk nodded, and shot at one of the magical attacks. Upon coming into contact with the attack, both the attack and the bolt evaporated.

"LISTEN, DARLING. I'VE SEEN YOU FIGHT. YOU'RE WEAK. IF YOU CONTINUE, ASGORE WILL TAKE YOUR SOUL. AND WITH YOUR SOUL, ASGORE WILL DESTROY HUMANITY. BUT IF I GET YOUR SOUL, I CAN STOP ASGORE'S PLAN! I CAN SAVE HUMANITY FROM DESTRUCTION! THEN USING YOUR SOUL, I'LL CROSS THROUGH THE BARRIER... AND BECOME THE STAR I'VE ALWAYS DREAMED OF BEING! HUNDREDS, THOUSANDS... NO! MILLIONS OF HUMANS WILL WATCH ME! GLITZ! GLAMOUR! I'LL FINALLY HAVE IT ALL! SO WHAT IF A FEW PEOPLE HAVE TO DIE? THAT'S SHOW BUSINESS, BABY!"

Frisk continued to dodge and destroy the attacks, when suddenly, her phone started ringing.

"Should I answer it?" Frisk asked Corsiva.

"Look, I said earlier that I knew Alphys. And I didn't lie. Even if what Alphys did wasn't the right thing, she still had her reasons, and was doing what she _thought_ was right. And now that it's all collapsed, she'll want to make up for what she did." Frisk nodded, and answered the phone.

"PLEASE tell me that you have some way to stop him!?" Frisk almost immediately said upon picking up the phone.

"U..uh... I can't see what's going on in there, but... D-d-don't give up, okay!? Th... there's o-one l-l-last way to beat Mettaton... It's... um... it's... This is a work-in-progress, so don't judge it too hard... But, you know how Mettaton always faces f-f-forward? That's because there's a switch on his backside. S-s-so if y-y-you c-c-can turn him around... um... And, umm... press th-th-th-the switch... He'll be... um... He'll be... Vulnerable. Well, g-g-gotta go!" Alphys hung up her phone, and Frisk thought for half of a second for what to do.

"Hey Mettaton! There's a mirror behind you!" Corsiva looked at Frisk, impressed. _**Nice. Playing to his vanity.**_

"OH? A MIRROR? RIGHT, I HAVE TO LOOK PERFECT FOR OUR GRAND FINALE! HMM... I DON'T SEE IT... WHERE IS IT...?" Frisk immediately rushed forward, and flipped the switch. "DID YOU. JUST FLIP. MY SWITCH?" Mettaton turned back around, his tiled face flashing all different colors at a rapid pace. Suddenly, the lights flashed extremely bright, and faded to black.

"Ohhhh YES." Mettaton's voice was echoing, and magnified. As fog suddenly flooded the stage, and spotlights appeared, Corsiva, Frisk, and Chara were suddenly greeted by a black silhouette of a tall figure, in a spectacular pose.

"Ohhhh my. If you flipped my switch, that can only mean one thing. You're desperate for the premiere of my new body. How rude… lucky for you, I've been aching to show this off for a long time. So… as thanks, I'll give you a handsome reward. I'll make your last living moments…" Suddenly, the fog was dispersed, and in front of them was Mettaton, in a fantastic new body, complete with fabulous hair, legs, and a pink, white, and black color scheme.

"ABSOLUTELY Beautiful!" Mettaton finished, as the groups eyes finished adjusting, and they saw the stage they were on was now in front of hundreds of monsters, and a giant billboard showed the ratings. Corsiva immediately heard music playing, and he instantly recognized it as a song he gave to Mettaton a while ago.

"Death By Glamour, Huh?" He asked aloud.

"But of course, Corsiva Darling." Mettaton winked. "You make fantastic music." Corsiva smirked.

 _ **Stats?**_ Frisk asked him. _**Mettaton EX makes his premiere! LV: 1/20. EXP:0. AT: 47. DF: 47. HP: 1900/1900. His weak point is his heart-shaped core. All he cares about are his ratings, and his fans. Impress the fans, get the ratings up, survive. And I know just how to do it.**_ Corsiva cleared his throat.

"Mettaton, I challenge you to a duel!" A soft gasp was heard in the audience. "If we let the ratings on your show get below 2999, or either me or the human dies, then you win. If you win, you can take the Human's SOUL, and go do what you want to do. But if WE win, you have to let us pass." "And what kind of duel would this be, darling?" Mettaton asked Corsiva. "You should already know, you're so good at it. Showmanship, impressing the fans, multitasking. But for the most part…" Corsiva posed dramatically. "…I'm challenging you to a Dance Competition."

As soon as he posed and finished his phrase, the ratings spiked from around 3000 to 5000. Mettaton's eyes widened as he stared at Corsiva, impressed, and at a loss for words.

"Very well." Mettaton regained his composure. "I accept the challenge!" The ratings once again spiked, rising this time to 6000.

"Challenge starting now." Corsiva then quipped, before breaking out into a flurry of long and complicated dance moves. As he moved, the ratings continued to grow, and grow, and grow. Soon, he stopped dancing, and finished in a dramatic pose, his mouth in a smirk. The crowd yelled and cheered, and he gave a small bow of acceptance.

"Alright Mettaton, your turn." Mettaton gave a wink, before launching his own attack of dance moves. After he too, finished, the audience gave a cheer that was practically the same as the one they gave Corsiva.

Corsiva looked over at the board; the ratings had reached 8000, and still continued to gradually rise.

"Well, since we apparently are as good of dancers as each other, let's break this up into phases, shall we?" Corsiva said aloud. "Phase one, complete. Phase two: Multitasking. Let's see how well I can dodge your attacks while doing other things. If I can last three minutes, the phase ends, and I get a point. If you land a single hit on me before three minutes are up, you get a point. Sound like a plan?"

"Certainly, darling." Mettaton winked. "Let's see if you can last it."

"Bring it on." Corsiva got into a battle position, ready for anything.

Surprisingly enough, for the first minute and a half, Corsiva was completely silent, as he dodged all of the attacks whilst dancing simultaneously. However, as soon as Frisk checked her watch and saw that a minute and a half had passed, Corsiva got a bit more cocky.

"You know, you can see some weird stuff at 3 o'clock in the morning when in Waterfall." He started, scratching his chin slightly and smirking. "Now, while I know that you should never start off a sentence with you can see some weird stuff at 3 o'clock in the morning, let me elaborate. I was up at 3 in the morning, not because I wanted to be, but because I NEEDED to be. I had a meeting I had to go to at a friends' place. You may know her as the captain of the royal guard, I just know her as Undyne, the human knows her as their new friend who tried to teach them how to cook and ended up burning their own house down. That is besides the point, but I digress. You do NOT want to be late for a meeting with Undyne, no matter how good of friends you are with her.

"So I get there at 3 a.m., and I'm already in a bad mood because of how early it is. So when I come across an equally mad person, you know that nothing good is going to happen. The person I came across happened to be a ghost monster who had decided its ideal body was a literal training dummy. Now, this dummy was also having difficulty actually becoming corporeal, something they were incredibly upset about. So, when they saw me, they lashed out at me, insulting me, calling me names, etcetera etcetera. And I, being in such a bad mood already, and being myself, immediately made like the Empire and struck back."

Corsiva quickly got into the swing of it, and kept talking nonstop, until eventually…

"…And that's how I managed to teach a ghost how to tell the time. Speaking of time, I think the three minutes are up." Frisk looked at her watch again, and nodded. "I think I would make a good comedian." Corsiva said aloud, though mostly to himself. "Like John Mulaney. Or Brian Regan." Frisk snorted. "Anyways, now we move onto phase two. If I win one more point, then I win the competition. But it you win this one, you get a point, and the score will be tied up. We'll have the human come up with a new challenge on the spot. But for now, phase two is complete. Onto phase three: multitasking. Mettaton edition."

The crowd cheered, as Mettaton also moved into position. Corsiva summoned some bones, and started throwing them at the robot in a complex, yet fair, pattern. Mettaton was mostly silent as he danced and dodged his way through his three minutes. As was the case with Corsiva, Mettaton managed to completely avoid all attacks that were thrown his way, and made it through his own three minutes without getting touched a single time. Corsiva frowned.

"Alright, that means the points are all tied up. Human, if you would, please just come up with a tie-breaker challenge?" Frisk looked surprised for a moment, before her face scrunched up as she tried to think. She eventually smiled, and gave her answer.

"Singing." She said. "If you want to play the instrumental accompaniment while singing, go ahead."

Mettaton smirked, and went into a musical rendition of lyrics that he had clearly came up with himself to go along with the song Corsiva had provided him. As he finished up, the crowd gave a loud cheer of appreciation. Corsiva gave a small nod.

"Not bad, not bad." Suddenly, the music stopped, and Corsiva was somehow sitting at a piano that wasn't there before. "But I think I can do better. For my song, I will be singing a favorite of mine from a now disbanded band from the Surface." He cleared his throat, and began to sing and play.

" _I've paid my dues. Time after time. I've done my sentence, but committed no crimes. And bad mistakes, I've made a few. I've had my share of sand kicked in my face, but I've come through! We are the champions, my friends. And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end! We are the champions. We are the champions! No time for losers, 'cause we are the champions… of the world!_ " The crowd cheered, but he still played on.

" _I've taken my bows, and my curtain calls. You've brought me fame, and fortune, and everything that goes with it, I thank you all! But it's been no bed of roses, no pleasure cruise. I consider it a challenge before the whole human race, and I ain't gonna lose! We are the champions, my friends. And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end! We are the champions. We are the champions! No time for losers, 'cause we are the champions… of the world-We are the champions my friends. And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end! We are the champions-WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS! NO TIME FOR LOSERS, 'CAUSE WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!_ " As he stopped singing, and the instrumental accompaniment finished with a grand conclusion, the audience cheered and screamed. "Thank you Underground! I love each and every one of you!"

"OOH, LOOK AT THESE RATINGS! THIS IS THE MOST VIEWERS I'VE EVER HAD! WE'VE REACHED THE VIEWER CALL-IN MILESTONE!" Corsiva looked over at the ratings board, having been caught up in the moment. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped, as he saw that the ratings had raised above 12000. "ONE LUCKY VIEWER WILL HAVE THE CHANCE TO TALK TO ME... ... BEFORE I LEAVE THE UNDERGROUND FOREVER! LET'S SEE WHO CALLS IN FIRST!" A phone appeared, and it started ringing. Mettaton answered it, and put it on speaker, pushing it up to a microphone. "HI, YOU'RE ON TV! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ON THIS, OUR LAST SHOW?" As the caller started speaking, Mettaton froze, his perpetual smile disappearing.

"... oh... hi… mettaton… i really liked watching your show… my life is pretty boring, but… seeing you on the screen… brought excitement to my life… vicariously." Mettaton's expression progressively got more and more sad, and if he was able to shed tears, Corsiva was sure he would be crying right about now. "i can't tell, but… i guess this is the last episode…? i'll miss you… mettaton….. … oh…. i didn't mean to talk so long… oh..."

"NO, WAIT! WAIT, BL…" Mettaton stopped, realizing they had already hung up. "H… THEY ALREADY HUNG UP." Mettaton looked extremely upset now, but it was quickly replaced by another smile, in an attempt to either cheer himself up, or cover up what he just did. "I'LL TAKE ANOTHER CALLER!" The phone rang again, and Mettaton quickly answered it.

"Mettaton, your show made us so happy!" Suddenly, the phone rang again, to be answered again.

"Mettaton, I don't know what I'll watch without you." And again.

"Mettaton, there's a Mettaton-shaped hole in my Mettaton-shaped heart." Mettaton slowly turned off the phone, looking slightly forlorn, and unsure of himself.

"AH… I… I SEE… … EVERYONE… THANK YOU SO MUCH. …DARLING." He directed his attention towards Frisk. "PERHAPS… IT MIGHT BE BETTER IF I STAY HERE A WHILE. HUMANS ALREADY HAVE STARS AND IDOLS, BUT MONSTERS… THEY ONLY HAVE ME. IF I LEFT… THE UNDERGROUND WOULD LOSE ITS SPARK. I'D LEAVE AN ACHING VOID THAT COULD NEVER BE FILLED. SO… I THINK I'LL HAVE TO DELAY MY BIG DEBUT. BESIDES." He seemed to cheer up again. "YOU'VE PROVEN YOURSELF TO BE VERY STRONG. PERHAPS… EVEN STRONG ENOUGH TO GET PAST ASGORE. I'M SURE YOU'LL BE ABLE TO PROTECT HUMANITY.

"HA, HA… IT'S ALL FOR THE BEST, ANYWAY. THE TRUTH IS, THIS FORM'S ENERGY CONSUMPTION IS… INEFFICIENT. IN A FEW MOMENTS, I'LL RUN OUT OF BATTERY POWER, AND… WELL. I'LL BE ALRIGHT. KNOCK 'EM DEAD, DARLING. AND EVERYONE... THANK YOU. YOU'VE BEEN A GREAT AUDIENCE!" And with a bright flash of light, it all went silent once more.

 **A/N - Blah Blah Blah Number 8 Blah Blah Blah Comment and/or review Blah Blah Blah Have a good day**

 **-SF**


	26. Another Confession, Welcome to New Home

When the light finally left their eyes, they were greeted with the fact that the stage they were standing on was now back where it had started, and Mettaton lay on the ground in front of them, inexplicably without his arms or legs, and completely out of power. The group all heard a sawing noise behind them, and turned around just as Alphys finally managed to open the door and get through.

"I… I managed to open the lock! Are you guys…" She suddenly broke off, seeing Mettaton on the ground. "Oh my god. Mettaton!" She rushed forward, in a state of panic. "Mettaton, are you…" As she examined the robot, she was silent, before letting out a deep sigh. "Thank GOD, it's just the batteries. Mettaton, if you were gone, I would have… I would have…" She suddenly seemed to remember that she wasn't alone. "…I m-mean, h-hey, it's no problem, you know? He's just a robot, if you messed it up, I c-could always… j-just build another." Alphys stopped talking for a few seconds, unsure of what to say. "…Why don't you two go on ahead?" Frisk started moving forward a little bit, before she saw Corsiva staying behind.

"You go on ahead, I'll be out in just a minute." He told her. She nodded, and moved forward. When she got into the other room, she looked meaningfully at Chara.

"I hope Alphys is okay." Chara told her, and Frisk nodded in reply.

As soon as Frisk and Chara had left, Corsiva came to Alphys' side.

"Hey, Al. You okay?" Alphys sobbed, and clutched at him. "Okay, dumb question. Sorry. Mind telling me what's on your mind?" She only continued to sob, but she managed to gasp out her words through her cries.

"I-I-I'm s-sorry, I'm such a m-mess." He shushed her, trying to get her to calm down.

"Shh, shh. It's alright. Stop being hard on yourself. Just… let it out. Try to tell me what you're thinking about."

"I… I just… I can't stop imagining… i-if they had k-k-killed Mettaton, I d-don't know what I would have done. H-he can be a bit annoying sometimes, and a b-bit full of h-h-himself, but… he w-was my o-only friend for a while." Corsiva nodded.

"He was Napstablook's cousin, right?" Alphys nodded.

"I m-m-met him at a human fan club meeting that he had organized. He expressed to m-me his desire to have a perfect body, how he d-didn't want to end up inside of a dummy like the r-r-rest of his family. When I o-offered to make him a body, he accepted, and left to become a star with my help, despite his reluctance to leave his cousin.

"A-And… He was my only friend, before I met U-Undyne. I d-don't know what I would have done if anything bad had happened to him." Corsiva nodded, hugging Alphys now.

"Let it out." He told her, and she cried silently into his shoulder for a few seconds. Eventually, Corsiva broke the silence.

"I haven't been completely truthful with you, lately." Corsiva told her. "I don't mean that I've lied to you, far from it. I just… haven't told you the complete truth." Alphys looked over at him, asking him to continue. "The human knows about the problem with the barrier. How their SOUL isn't enough to cross it. How they'd have to… well, you know." Alphys looked down at the ground.

"How did they…" She started to ask.

"I told them." Corsiva informed her, causing her to look over at him again. "I had to tell them eventually. I just didn't want you to have to bear the knowledge that you'd been lying to them, so I made sure there could be no way they wouldn't understand the depth of the situation. I had the best of intentions in mind." Alphys was silent, but she still nodded.

"A-anything else?" She pressed forward.

"I'm thinking about helping them get past Asgore." He said softly. Alphys' eyes went wide.

"What!?" She raised her voice.

"I don't mean that I'll help them kill him. They don't want to do anything to harm him at all. I respect that. I won't hurt Asgore, or kill him. I'll help them avoid getting hurt by him. And then… well, I guess we'll have to wait and see what they choose to do." Alphys nodded calmly. "I think that I might be able to pass through the barrier on my own." Corsiva lowered his voice an extra level, now trying to keep prying ears from reaching them. "My SOUL is unique. Earlier today, I was presented with the question of if I was able to cross the barrier. It doesn't matter who asked, or how it came into existence, but the question did appear. I think that my SOUL might be powerful enough to cross the barrier, but I don't know for sure." Alphys nodded again, a bit more slowly, unsure of what else to do.

"And… there's one other thing, too." Corsiva was now whispering. "Only two- well, kind of three- other people know about this, so I hope you understand how important it is that you keep this secret." Alphys' eyes were wide, and she gave a very quick nod. "The human? The reason I'm so attached to her? There's a reason for that, and it's not because I have been connecting with her for the past few hours. I knew her, back when I was a human. Back when I still called myself 'Drake Addams.'" Frisk, who had been listening in on their conversation so far, had been unable to hear anything after Corsiva started lowering his voice. However, her ears did pick up a few things, most notably: her brother's name. Her breath quickened slightly, but she still remained silent, so as not to give away her position.

"The human… she's… my sister." Corsiva finished in a whisper. Alphys was staring at him, her eyes extremely wide, her face contorted in shock.

"She… you… I don't… what?" She was so shocked, she couldn't properly form a sentence.

"Yeah, I know right?" Corsiva smirked. "What are the odds?" He paused, before adding "That's a rhetorical question, please don't tell me. I never want to know the odds. Unlike Captain Solo, however, I'm intelligent enough to find them out myself." Alphys gave a small smile.

"So… does the human…" Corsiva shook his head quickly, his voice lowering once more.

"No. They don't know. I want to wait before I tell them anything. Let us get to know each other again more naturally."

"So… w-who else knows?"

"Sans and Undyne." Corsiva responded simply. Alphys' brow furrowed in confusion.

"Who's the th-th-third person? You m-mentioned that it was k-kind of three other people who knew. Wh-Who's the other person?" Corsiva shrugged.

"It's difficult to explain, and I'm not sure how, so that will be kept to myself for a little bit. I'll tell you eventually, I promise." He told her. In all honesty, it would be difficult to explain Chara's existence, sentience, and limited appearance to only Frisk and Corsiva, especially considering Corsiva himself wasn't sure how it was possible, or how it worked.

"But you understand how important it is to me that you keep this secret, right? Especially from her, at least for now." Alphys nodded, and leaned in for one more hug. Corsiva smiled at her, and hugged her back. They embraced each other for a few seconds.

"Thanks for this." Alphys thanked her friend. "It… i-it means a lot." Corsiva gave a small shrug, winking.

"Don't mention it." Alphys gave a small nod. Eventually, the two broke away. "Well, I should get going." Corsiva told her, gesturing with his head towards the exit, where Frisk was waiting. Alphys nodded again.

"So… I guess this is it, then." She started.

"Yeah." Corsiva replied, sounding somewhat confident.

"Do or die time." She added.

"Yeah…" Corsiva replied, a bit quieter.

"If that's the case, then… I g-guess that th-th-this could be the last time we see each other." Alphys practically whispered. Corsiva looked over at her.

"In that case, I have some things I want to say. You know, kind of like a will, or just things to remember me by.

"First things first, you need to be more confident. I can tell you have a super huge crush on Undyne, so you need to go for it. I believe in you, and I know that Undyne feels the same way about you. Kind of. Second, if anything happens to me, make sure that Papyrus knows the whole truth. No shortcuts, no lies, no secrets to keep his innocence. The whole truth. I don't want him to have to suffer the loss of a family member, but I want to make sure that he at least knows things as they were, instead of some bullshit excuse. Third, and most importantly, this is if I somehow die." Alphys had been listening very carefully to what Corsiva had been telling her up to this point, and when he said this, she immediately became stiff.

"Don't look at me like that, there's still a chance, no matter how small. So, as I was saying, if I die, I want you to do something for me." He put his hands on Alphys' shoulders. "Tell the Underground about me. About who I was before I died, who I REALLY was. Make sure that Papyrus and Sans stay safe, that they're taken care of. I don't want Sans to slip into a state of depression because of me. Take care of yourself, too. I want you to take care of anybody you can." Alphys was silent, and she nodded.

"What will we do with your dust if you die?" She asked him. "What do you want us to spread it on?" Corsiva sighed.

"I don't want you to. Spreading dust across something symbolizes the now dead monster living on in that thing which their dust was spread upon. I don't want to live on. I'll finally be with people that I've been keeping waiting for some time."

Corsiva looked resolved. Like he was completely sure of himself. It was almost terrifying. Alphys slowly nodded.

"And… if this is the last time we meet… then I just want to tell you… I'm sorry for anything I put you through." Alphys looked over at him again, a shocked and sad expression on her face. But, he didn't look back at her, and instead stood up once more, and moved towards the exit. As he walked through it, Frisk noted that he looked almost emotionless, just empty. Dead.

"What's wrong?" She asked him. Corsiva just shook his head.

"It's nothing." He lied. "I'm just… not looking forward to meeting Asgore." This, too, was a lie. It wasn't meeting Asgore that was bothering him, it was the thought of what could happen to Frisk, or to him, and what would happen to everybody else because of it. "Let's just… let's just go." They walked into an elevator, and started heading up to the King's castle.

As the elevator slowly brought them to their destination, Corsiva, Frisk, and Chara were all silent for a few seconds.

"Have…" Frisk started timidly, as if she wasn't sure if she should ask her question. "Of the Humans who fell into the Underground before me… were any of them named Drake?" Corsiva looked over at her, surprised.

"Drake?" He asked, feigning ignorance. "I haven't seen or heard anybody go by that name in… about four years."

"But… are they… is he… still alive?" Corsiva sighed.

"I don't know." He told her. "I think that whoever that person is, they've been gone for quite a while." And, like Obi Wan Kenobi said in episode Six, it was true, from a certain point of view. Corsiva hadn't gone by the name Drake Addams in four years, and he had changed a fair bit in those four years. He wasn't sure if he was still that person anymore. He was barely recognizable as Drake now, and not just in physical appearances.

"Oh." Frisk responded dejectedly, looking down at her feet. Corsiva frowned.

"I'm sure he's fine." Chara told Frisk, trying to reassure her. Corsiva hated himself for lying to Frisk, but he wasn't ready to tell her yet. At the same time, if he didn't tell her now, he might never get the chance to tell her again. It was conflicting, and he hated it all. But, he would have to live with it, for now. They all sat in silence for a few seconds, before the elevator door finally opened.

"Finally!" Corsiva sighed.

"That took forever!" Chara agreed with him. Frisk rolled her eyes, and they all walked out. They were immediately greeted by sights of grey and black.

"Frisk, welcome to 'New Home.'" Corsiva said to Frisk, his tone slightly dull, and a bit more quiet than usual. Frisk looked at Corsiva with an eyebrow raised.

"With all due respect to him, King Asgore Dreemurr is proficient in a good many things, but coming up with names isn't one of them." He said, winking. Chara chuckled, as Frisk smirked. Corsiva continued to look out at the grey bricks and tiles surrounding them, his expression blank. He sighed.

"I never really come here." He said aloud, sounding like he was mostly talking to himself. "I don't really like the city life in general. I much prefer the quiet life, and the city… well, it usually isn't very quiet. Plus, the city itself… well… it's like people's moral standings in life, it's just a bunch of different shades of gray. I prefer the white of the snow, the brown of the forest, and all of the other colors all the way back in Snowdin Town. But, still. None of it can compare to what waits ahead, yet behind at the same time." He was silent, thinking to himself. He suddenly sighed. "Let's just keep moving forward." He told the group. Chara, however begrudgingly, complied. Or at least, she TRIED to comply. Frisk wasn't budging, a concerned frown on her face, her arms folded.

"Corsiva, something's bothering you." She said aloud.

"I'm fine." He replied, uncaring.

"No, you're not fine." Frisk argued. "Now, you can either tell me what's wrong, or I can force the answers out of you."

"Can we just not talk about it?" He snapped at her, causing her to flinch and step back. After realizing what he had done, Corsiva sighed again, his eyes closed, his face softening.

"Sorry." He started. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that, it wasn't necessary. I just… I don't know, Frisk. This entire time that I've been helping you, going through the Underground with you, I've been trying to prolong the inevitable. I wanted to keep you from meeting Asgore, because I knew that something would happen. Something bad. So, I kept us busy. I kept battles going when I knew we could get past them without any problem. I had you hang out with Papyrus, and Undyne, and Sans twice. I literally offered you the opportunity to just STOP heading towards Asgore, and stay in the Underground for a little while longer, and for what? Because I was scared? Maybe. Because I didn't want you to leave? Probably. No, it was because I didn't want you to have to do anything you would regret." Frisk stared at him, confused. "How to say it…" Corsiva muttered to himself, seeing Frisk's expression.

"Frisk, you're a pacifist. That's a very good thing to be. It shows that you have a very strong moral compass. And you've kept following that compass this entire road. But, there's only so far that pacifism will take you. And, well, I hate to say it, but… the road ends at Asgore. Asgore will not accept your mercy, he won't let you run away, he'll only stop trying to kill you if you kill him first. And killing somebody, even in self defense… it leaves a mark on the SOUL. You lose some of what you used to be, you become less… attached, for lack of a better word, to the world around you. I don't want you to have to live with that, I don't want you to have to feel that guilt.

"At the same time, I know that if you don't fight him, Asgore will kill you, and take your SOUL, before using it and the other six SOULs to become a god, and break the barrier, declaring war on the humans and the surface. And I don't want that to happen either. But that leaves us with two choices. Kill Asgore, going against your pacifist ways, and leave the Underground with the rest of the Monsters stranded inside, or let Asgore kill you and take your SOUL, leading to the deaths of millions of humans, and hundreds of monsters, in a war that never ends. I don't want you to have to make that decision. And I don't want to make it, either. I just… I don't want to have to face that decision, but I know that it's going to be made eventually. So, I won't stall you any further. Let's just get to Asgore, and then we'll figure out what to do." He sighed, then moved forward.

They walked across a long pathway, with the City being in perfect view around them practically the whole time, when they got to a gray house, with a bed of golden flowers.

"New Home." Chara whispered to herself, though Corsiva's nonexistent ears managed to pick it up. He knew what had happened in this home, and in this castle, all those years before he ever fell into the Underground. But, he wouldn't tell Frisk. The other monsters could tell her just fine. As they walked inside, a tune started playing from the speaker, and they were greeted by a padlocked chain, separating the main area of the house from the basement area. Corsiva looked at the note, and read it aloud.

"Howdy! I'm in the garden. If you have anything you need to get off your chest, please don't hesitate to come. The keys are in the kitchen and the hallway." Somewhere in the back of his mind, Corsiva recognized the song being played as one that he created and named "Undertale," but it didn't matter at the moment. Corsiva looked at Frisk, before beckoning for her to follow him into the hallway. When they got there, they saw a green key on a table in front of them. However, Frisk decided to walk inside of one of the bedrooms. Inside, they found two boxes, wrapped like presents.

"I'll take the one on the left, you take the one on the right?" He asked her, causing her to nod. They each walked over to their respective present, and simultaneously opened them. Frisk gave a tiny sigh, as Corsiva made a sharp intake of breath.

"What's in yours?" Corsiva asked her, looking over, and saw her take out a golden heart-shaped locket, which had the Delta Rune on it. Corsiva smiled, before looking back and seeing Chara looking at them, an expressionless look on her face. She just looked dead inside, nothing more, nothing less. Corsiva looked back inside of his present, and it all made sense. He sighed.

"Hey Frisk, could I have a moment alone with Chara?" He asked Frisk, to which she looked over at him, confused, before nodding. She left the room, and closed the door, leaving the spirit and the skeleton alone inside of it.

 **A/N - Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf. That's nine chapters, all in one day. I could go for ten, but I don't want to overdo it. I'll just wait for it. What will happen next for our trio? Who lives, who dies? Who tells your story? I mean, if you've played Undertale, or have seen someone play it on YouTube or something like that, you probably know, but whatever. There's still a million things I haven't done with this story, but just you wait. I'm not throwing away my shot! Have I mentioned I love Hamilton? Speaking of love, you know what else I love? I love that you guys are enjoying this story! I hope that you continue to enjoy it, I work really hard on these things! If you enjoy it, you can check out my other story, and maybe write a review there! If you don't enjoy this story much, please tell me what you think is wrong with it, so that I know how to fix it. If it's a problem with the dialouge, I'll work to fix it in the later chapters. If you think that certain things are moving a bit slowly, then I'll either explain why things are moving slowly, or I'll try to speed things up for you. If you just don't like the story, or the characters... then boohoo. Go read something else if that's the case. I'm not forcing you to read this. Just make sure that if you have criticism in your review, that it is CONSTRUCTIVE. I don't want reviews where people say "This story sucks, you suck, go kill yourself" or something like that. Got it? Anyway, hope you have a good day, and peace out for now!**

 **-SF**


	27. The Undertale

They sat in silence for a few seconds, before Corsiva asked a question:

"This room, that locket… it was all yours, wasn't it?" Chara nodded in response.

"We made those lockets for each other," She started, recollecting, "me and Asriel. He always said that we were going to be… 'best friends forever.'" She chuckled, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "I guess that was just a happy dream, huh?" She sighed, looking at Corsiva. "I never could keep my friends. I never really made friends in general, and when I tried to keep them, something always happened to ruin it.

"I don't deserve friends, and you don't deserve for somebody like me to ruin your lives. You deserve to be happy, Drake. You and Frisk both do." Corsiva sighed, looking into Chara's eyes.

"You deserve to be happy too, Chara." He told her. "Everybody deserves to be happy, at least everybody who _wants_ to be happy, even if they don't see it." Seeing that this was getting nowhere, Corsiva sighed, and looked back down into the present. He pulled the knife out.

"This was yours, too, right?" He asked, holding it out to Chara. She looked at it, surprised. "It was the knife that you took when you left the orphanage. A little bit after you left, Madam Security said that one of the knives was missing from the drawer, and blamed it on me, since I was the only orphan she ever saw in the kitchen, aside from you, who she thought was dead. You took this to the Underground with you, I presume, and fell with it." Chara nodded. Corsiva pulled out _Cachear_ , holding it up next to the worn dagger.

"Why do you think I'm so attached to this thing?" He asked Chara. She scratched her chin, before smiling.

"Is that what you found all those years ago on your trip?" She asked. Corsiva smiled, and for once, his past self shone through.

"It was my father's." Corsiva said. "I fell with it when I came into the Underground. It was the last thing I had to remember my parents by, to remember my family by. When I became a skeleton, I eventually had the word _Cachear_ engraved into the blade. When this thing burns with my eyes, the word actually glows brighter than the rest of the blade. I already told you that _Cachear_ was Spanish, but I never told you what it actually meant.

"If you translate the Spanish word _Cachear_ into Danish, you get… Frisk. Her name did come from Danish origins, after all. This Ninjato, it's the last reminder I have of my old life, my old family. Or at least, it was. Now… it's going to be stained in blood… and dust." They both sighed. "I don't want to fight Asgore, but I have to. Because… I'll never forgive myself if something happens to Frisk if I don't." Chara nodded.

"What are you going to do with the knife?" She asked him. He looked at it for a few seconds, looking thoughtful. Eventually, he put it into his back pocket.

"Another reminder." He said, smiling. He let _Cachear_ melt back down, and hide itself in his arm. He stood up, and walked back out into the hallway, with Chara in tow, both of them smiling brightly, and feeling much happier. Frisk, upon seeing them smiling, smiled in response.

"Well, you're looking a lot happier." She noted aloud, looking at Corsiva. Corsiva grinned.

"I'm feeling a lot happier." He responded, before gesturing over to the key. "Shall we get a move on?" He asked, and they all moved over towards the key. As Frisk grabbed it and put it on her keychain, they were confronted by two monsters; both of them Froggits. To their surprise, the two monsters began to speak.

"A long time ago, a human fell into the RUINS." Frisk looked over at Corsiva, her expression silently asking what the story was going to be about. Corsiva, seeing this, rolled his eyes, and gestured over to Chara. "Injured by its fall, the human called out for help." The group saw the Froggits leave, and they started moving away, before Frisk noticed something.

"The room!" She said to Chara. "It's open!" She moved over to the door to Asgore's room, and opened it, walking inside. In the corner, she saw a desk with a journal on it, which she looked at.

"Nice day today!" Corsiva read aloud. He turned over the pages, looking at the other entries. "All of the most recent entries say the exact same thing." He said. Chara looked closer, before speaking:

"The ink is still wet." Corsiva looked at the desk.

"So he was here recently?" Frisk asked. Corsiva nodded, before speaking, his brow furrowed.

"He was, but here's the REAL question…" He paused dramatically, before pointing to something on the desk and looking back at Frisk. "What kind of person still uses a quill to write?" Frisk laughed, as Chara let out a small chuckle. As Frisk looked inside of the closet, Corsiva looked over at a trophy, which read "Number 1 Nose-Nuzzle Champions '98!" Frisk let out a laugh, causing Corsiva to look over, and see that she was laughing at a Santa Claus outfit inside of the closet. He grinned.

"Yup, that checks out." He said aloud. "Asgore generally comes to Snowdin Town each Christmas dressed as Santa, to keep up the Gyftday tradition." Frisk looked at him, confused, wearing an expression that Chara shared.

"So, you know gyftrot, the monster you met back in Snowdin, right? Antlers, fur, several eyes? Covered head to hoof in stupid decorations? Well, a while ago, some teens started doing that to him, and some of the townsfolk in Snowdin gave him presents to cheer him up. Nowadays, it's something of a tradition to put presents under a tree, and we call it Gyftday. Basically, it's just Christmas without the religious origins or connections." Frisk started smirking.

"Have you checked out the drawer yet?" Frisk asked him. Corsiva shook his head.

"Chara?" He asked. "Will you do the honors?" Chara looked at him for a second, before grinning, and walked over to the drawer.

"I don't exactly have the ability to interact with anything physical, so…" She started, before she phased her head into the drawer.

"Well, there's a bunch of button up shirts and robes…" She started, poking her head back out, before she continued looking, and burst out into laughter, pulling herself out, and rolling on the floor. "He still has that!?" She shouted between her laughter, causing Corsiva to walk over to the drawer, and look inside. He started chuckling upon seeing it.

"What is it?" Frisk asked him.

"It's…" He started, finding it difficult to talk between his now growing laughter, "It's a pink, hand knit sweater, that says… 'Mr. Dad Guy.'" Frisk, too, started laughing at that. They all just laughed for a few seconds, before they eventually, and very slowly, stopped, and left the room. As they left, they passed another room, in between Asgore's room and Chara's old room. Frisk looked at it, and frowned.

"Room under renovations." She told them. "It's exactly where Toriel's room was back at the Ruins." She added. Chara nodded at this, and Corsiva just looked confused, but his expression quickly became normal once again. They encountered another group of monsters; two Whimsuns. They, too, spoke, though it was with more confidence than Frisk, Chara, and Corsiva were used to hear coming from a Whimsun.

"ASRIEL, the king's son, heard the human's call."

"He brought the human back to the castle." The Whimsuns left, leaving Frisk very curious, Corsiva very attentive, and Chara very silent, somber. They all walked past the foyer and staircase, and into a living room combined with a dining room. As they were about to walk into the kitchen, past several bookshelves, an unlit fireplace, a dining table with only a potted golden flower (much like most of the other tables and stands in the home), and an old, dusty, unused reading chair, they were greeted by a group of Moldsmall.

"Over time, ASRIEL and the human became like siblings."

"The King and Queen treated the human child as their own."

"The underground was full of hope." Frisk was now wearing a small smile, while Corsiva's expression, like Chara's, didn't change one bit. They all walked into the kitchen, where Frisk found the second key, which she put on her keychain. There was also a note on the counter.

"Howdy! Help yourself to anything you want!" In the fridge, they found that it was filled to the brim with cans of snails, all unopened. The stovetop was clean, the sink was clogged with white fur (wonder where THAT came from), and the trash can was filled with crumpled up recipes for Butterscotch Pie.

They walked back out into the foyer, and unlocked the chain before heading downstairs, ready to continue listening to the story. But what the next group of monsters (two Migosps) said made Chara freeze, and look even more sad.

"Then… One day…"

"The human became very ill." Frisk's cheerful expression fell slightly, as she failed to notice Corsiva looking back at Chara, wearing a concerned expression.

"You doing okay?" He whispered to Chara. She shook her head.

"Bad memories…" She muttered in response. Corsiva nodded, and they both hurried to catch up to Frisk again. The trio encountered many more monsters, with Vegetoids, Looxes, Snowdrake look-alikes, Ice Caps, Woshuas, Shyren look-alikes, dummies, Knight Knight and Madjick, Final Froggits, Whimsalots, and Astigmatisms, all of which helped to continue the story.

"The sick human had only one request."

"To see the flowers from their village."

"But there was nothing we could do."

"The next day."

"The next day."

"…"

"The human died."

"ASRIEL, wracked with grief, absorbed the human's SOUL."

"He transformed into a being with incredible power."

"With the human SOUL, ASRIEL crossed through the barrier."

"He carried the human's body into the sunset."

"Back to the village of the humans."

"ASRIEL reached the center of the village."

"There, he found a bed of golden flowers."

"He carried the human onto it."

"Suddenly, screams rang out."

"The villagers saw ASRIEL holding the human's body."

"They thought that he had killed the child."

"The humans attacked him with everything they had."

"He was struck with blow after blow."

"ASRIEL had the power to destroy them all."

"But…"

"ASRIEL did not fight back."

"Clutching the human…"

"ASRIEL smiled, and walked away."

"Wounded, ASRIEL stumbled home."

"He entered the castle and collapsed."

"His dust spread across the garden." Chara looked forlorn, her eyes wide, and filled with tears.

"The kingdom fell into despair."

"The king and queen had lost two children in one night."

"The humans had once again taken everything from us."

"The king decided it was time to end our suffering."

"Every human who falls down here must die."

"With enough souls, we can shatter the barrier forever."

"It's not long now."

"King ASGORE will let us go."

"King ASGORE will give us hope."

"King ASGORE will save us all." "You should be smiling, too."

"Aren't you excited?"

"Aren't you happy?" Finally, they encountered a single Froggit, who spoke thus.

"You're going to be free." And with that, the Froggit hopped away, leaving the group to their devices. Frisk and Corsiva looked over at Chara, whose face was stained with silent tears, many of which were still forming and falling.

"This… this is my fault." Chara whispered, just loud enough for Corsiva and Frisk to hear it. "I… I caused all of this. Asriel dying… Asgore declaring war on humanity… Toriel leaving… all of it." Corsiva didn't know how to comfort her, and neither, it seemed, did Frisk. "I really am worthless." She eventually said, and more tears formed in her eyes.

Corsiva, who had up until that point been growing tired of all the people in his life saying they were worth less than they actually were, walked forward somewhat confidently. He crouched down slightly so that he was at the same height as Chara, before speaking.

"Look at me." He said calmly. When Chara didn't, he spoke again. "Alright, it's going to be a lot harder to talk to you right now if you don't look up at me. I can't physically grab your chin with my hand and force you to show me your eyes, Chara, so I'm going to need you to do me a solid and actually look up at me here, okay?" Chara chuckled slightly at his joke, and looked up at him. "You are not worthless." He said firmly. "Alright? This is not your fault. None of this is. Everything that happened here, it's a combination of unlucky circumstances, misunderstandings, and people making bad decisions all around. But none of it is all your fault. And you are worth something, everybody is." Chara looked at him, an eyebrow raised.

"No offense, Corsiva, but how would you know how much I am or am not worth?" Chara questioned the skeleton.

"None taken," Corsiva started his response, "and I would know because I've known Alphys for four years now. You don't know Alphys for that long without being able, or becoming able, to actually see how much somebody's worth. There are those who are valuable, or worth something, in the eyes of others, but not to themselves, like Alphys. She doesn't think of herself as anything really, while almost everybody in the Underground sees her as a genius, who always helps everybody out. There are those who hold themselves extremely high, and still have worth to some people, but not everybody, like Papyrus. While the people of Snowdin think of him like a cute, innocent, snowflake, and me, Sans, and Undyne hold him as high as he holds himself, most other people in the Underground have never even met him, or heard of him.

"There are those who are a bit more humble, who see it as they are worth something, but not everything, which can be said for most everybody in the Underground. And then, there are those like myself and Sans, who don't care about our worth. To guys like me and him, it doesn't matter how much we are worth, and it doesn't matter how much somebody thinks they're worth, or how much they hate themselves, because we can see through all of that! Alphys looks down on herself not because she can't see how much she's worth, but because everybody thinks so highly of her that she's afraid she'll just let them all down, or fail them, or disappoint them. Papyrus acts like he's so cool, and that he's the best, not because he can't see how much he's worth, but because he just wants other people to look at him with a positive image, in the same way that Sans, Undyne, and I look at him, and he wants to impress _somebody_ , but he doesn't know who he's trying to impress. Even Sans… well, I'll let him tell you if he wants to.

"In all honesty, it doesn't really matter how much you believe you're worth. What matters is how much you mean to others. And Chara, you are worth something. You're worth something to Frisk, you're worth something to me, and you were absolutely worth something to Asiel. So, I want you to stop treating yourself like a worthless piece of trash, and start respecting yourself. You aren't worthless. You mean something. Got it?" Chara nodded slightly, Frisk just gasped at Corsiva, surprised at how serious and inspiring he was being. Corsiva stood back up to his normal height, and a smirk fell on his face again.

"Good." He started. "Because I'm really making like a car here. I'm really _tired_ of having to help people stop hating themselves. It really _grinds my gears_ how many people I know who don't realize how valuable they are. Oh well, I guess that it just _revs my engines_ to help people in general, so maybe it's worth it. I just gotta _slam on the brakes_ and put things in perspective." Frisk was openly laughing, and Chara was chuckling, feeling a bit better. After they all stopped laughing, the trip walked into the corridor, and were immediately greeted by a stark contrast to everything behind them. The room wasn't colored with shades of grey, black, purple, or white, or any other of the colors they had seen on their journey so far. It wasn't even much of a room.

They were standing in a large and long corridor, or even more of a hallway. There were pillars lined up against some of the walls, and windows that shined in bright lights, casting shadows over the bodies of the three friends as well as the pillars, and bathing the entire room in a golden glow. The windows themselves had the Delta Rune worked into the stained glass. There was a box behind them, which Frisk opened, pulling out a pie that smelled strongly of both cinnamon and butterscotch, and putting said pie into her pockets. They walked forward, examining the hallway for themselves.

"It's…" Frisk started, her eyes wide. "…beautiful." She finished, unable to find a better way to say it. Corsiva nodded.

"My thoughts exactly the first time I saw it." He stated aloud, looking around. Chara was just silent.

"It's the corridor right outside of the Throne Room." Said Chara, as she, too, looked around.

"We're about to run into King Asgore in a few minutes." Corsiva added on for her.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Frisk asked Corsiva, turning around to look at her skeletal companion.

"There's something you should learn, first." He stated simply, before flicking his head in the direction behind Frisk, and towards the Throne Room. Frisk turned back around, confused at what he was gesturing to, when she saw him, standing at the other end of the hallway, his eye sockets closed, his perpetually frozen grin still plastered on his face, looking less like he was happy and more that it was being forced. His hands still in his pockets, his blue jacket and pink slippers being coated in shadows like everybody else in the hallway. As bells started chiming, seemingly coming from within the walls themselves, Frisk was filled with anticipation and recollection.

 **A/N - Well... this got sad. Good thing Corsiva's here to lighten the mood, eh? I think you know what's coming up next, so I won't waste your time. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please comment and/or review to tell me your thoughts on it, and have a good day. I'll see you in the next one.**

 **-SF**


	28. Judgement and Repentance

"So you finally made it." Sans started, his tone serious, dead. Not an ounce of humor was to be heard. "The end of your journey is at hand." He was speaking directly to Frisk, practically ignoring Corsiva. But Corsiva didn't mind. Frisk still needed to learn about what Sans knew. What Corsiva knew. So, he waited patiently for Sans to finish talking to and/or judging Frisk before they could continue forward. "In a few moments, you will meet the king. Together… you will determine the future of this world. That's then. Now. You will be judged. You will be judged for your every action. You will be judged for EXP you've earned." Frisk's expression, which had been somber up until this point, immediately twisted in confusion.

"EXP?" She questioned softly.

"What's EXP?" Sans opened his eyes slightly, looking at Frisk with a calculating expression. "It's an acronym." He answered simply, his eyes closing once again.

"It stands for 'execution points.'" Frisk's expression once again changed, into a look of pure horror. "A way of quantifying the pain you have inflicted on others. When you kill someone, your EXP increases. When you have enough EXP, your LOVE increases. LOVE, too, is an acronym." Frisk turned away slightly, not wanting to know what LOVE stood for, but knowing she would learn despite this. "It stands for 'Level of Violence.'" She closed her eyes, even more horrified. "A way of measuring someone's capacity to hurt. The more you kill, the easier it becomes to distance yourself. The more you distance yourself, the less you will hurt. The more easily you can bring yourself to hurt others." Frisk shut her eyes even harder, and she could feel tears starting to form at the corners of her eyes. Sans was silent for a few seconds.

"…but you." His voice was suddenly more gentle, more like his casual, laid back, and all around nonchalant tone and behavior. The speaker was now playing a hopeful song titled "The Choice." When Frisk opened her eyes to look at him again, she saw that his grin was just a small bit wider, more genuine, and his eyes were now open, his white pupils shining brightly in his eye sockets. "you never gained any LOVE. 'course, that doesn't mean you're completely innocent or naive. just that you kept a certain tenderness in your heart. no matter the hardships or struggles you faced… you strived to do the right thing. you refused to hurt anyone. even when you ran away, you did it with a smile. you never gained LOVE, but you gained love. does that make sense? maybe not." There was a silence filling the entire corridor, except for the hopeful music that the speaker was playing.

"…now. you're about to face the greatest challenge of your entire journey. your actions here… will determine the fate of the entire world. if you refuse to fight… asgore will take your soul and destroy humanity. but if you kill asgore and go home… monsters will remain trapped underground. what will you do?" Sans let Frisk think for a few seconds, before continuing with a wink. "well, if i were you, i would have thrown in the towel by now. but you didn't get this far by giving up, did you? that's right. you have something called 'determination.' so long as you hold on… so long as you do what's in your heart… i believe you can do the right thing." Frisk looked at Sans, her eyes once again filled with innocence, and hope. Sans, too, looked hopeful at what was to come, and suddenly, his gaze shifted a little bit behind Frisk, so that he was looking towards Corsiva as well as Frisk.

"i know a guy who taught me that was all you needed to do good. to try to do the right thing, and believe in the people around you. i guess we'll see if he's right about that, won't we?" Frisk gave a small nod. "you know, seeing a kid like you be so kind and caring towards the monsters who tried to kill you, it gives me hope. hope that maybe, just maybe, things can turn out alright for everybody in the future. alright. we're all counting on you, kid. good luck." And in an instant, Sans disappeared, leaving Frisk, Chara, and Corsiva to their thoughts.

How badly Corsiva wanted to tell Frisk right then and there. Just open his mouth, and let the truth flow out of it. It would be so easy. He wouldn't even have to think about it. But, when he opened his mouth to say it, none of the words came out, no matter how hard he tried. Instead, what came out was…

"We should get moving." _**WHAT!? Why did I say that!?**_ "We shouldn't prolong the inevitable any longer. You can't run from the future, can't run from time. So let's just face it head-on." _**God, for a genius, I'm such a huge idiot. I can't even confess to something I want to without my common sense getting the better of my morality.**_ Frisk nodded at what Corsiva had said aloud.

"Let's just go meet Asgore." She said aloud, causing Chara, too, to nod. The trio walked towards the throne room.

As they walked inside, they were greeted with sounds of birds chirping, and the sight of a large monster, with broad shoulders, white fur and two white horns, a golden colored mane/beard, wearing a small crown on their head, and a large, purple cape with golden pauldrons. Although he was facing away from them, Corsiva knew that the pauldrons connected in the front to form the winged circle of the Delta Rune. The monster stood in front of a patch of golden flowers, and a little ways away, there lay a humble throne. Corsiva noted that hidden in the corner was a second throne, though this one had cloth draped over it, hiding it from view slightly. As the monster spoke, his voice was deep and booming, yet soft and gentle at the same time.

"Dum dee dum… Oh? Is someone there? Just a moment! I have almost finished watering these flowers." Frisk waited patiently for them to finish, already feeling anxious. Corsiva felt the same way. Chara… well, not even she was sure how she was feeling.

"…Here we are!" The monster turned around, not completely paying attention. "Howdy!" They greeted. "How can I…" The monster stumbled back, his expression dropping upon seeing who it was. "Oh." He said, and Frisk looked nervously into the somber face of Asgore Dreemurr.

"…Hi." She greeted quietly, giving a small wave. They sat in silence for a few seconds.

"I so badly want to say, 'would you like a cup of tea?'" Asgore tried regaining his composure slightly as he walked forward slightly, offering a small smile. Frisk returned the smile. Corsiva just looked on. Eventually, Asgore sighed, his face falling once more.

"You know how it is." He stated sadly to Frisk.

"Yeah, I do." She responded, her face going into a more neutral state. Asgore walked over to the window.

"Nice day today, huh?" He asked rhetorically. Frisk nodded. "Birds are singing, flowers are blooming… perfect weather for a game of catch." Corsiva slowly walked over to the window, too, putting his hands on the windowsill.

"It almost makes you wish things were simpler." Corsiva stated aloud. Asgore sighed once more, nodding.

"But… you know what we must do." The King stated somberly. He turned to look at Corsiva. "I wish I could have gotten to know you more, Corsiva, as I did your brothers. But… forgive my rambling." He turned his attention over to Frisk, as well as Corsiva. "When you both are ready, come into the next room." And with that, he departed into the exit of the room just behind his throne. Corsiva looked over at Frisk.

"Well, let's not keep him waiting." He said quietly, before looking away. They were finally there. They were about to fight Asgore. It was exactly what he had been trying to prolong for the entire journey up until that point. He always assumed that he would be feeling more confident about it if he kept it from happening for as long as possible, give himself time to think about it, and stop feeling scared at the thought of it, and now that it was finally here… he was just as scared as before. As if she could tell what he was feeling, Frisk walked over to him, and grabbed his hand gently.

"It'll be fine." She said calmly, yet confidently. Corsiva looked back over at her, a small smile returning to his face.

"I sure hope so." He said. The trio walked into the next room, mostly ready to face Asgore.

"How tense…" Asgore started, upon seeing them enter the room. "Just think of it like… a visit to the dentist." The trio and Asgore moved forward a little ways.

"Are you ready?" Asgore asked Frisk, just outside of another door. Frisk shook her head. "If you are not, I understand. I am not ready either." And with that, Asgore led them into the next room. They were immediately greeted by a blinding white light, that seemed to flow about the entire area. It was so big, it seemed like the entire population of the underground could fit in there.

"This is the barrier." Asgore stated, not looking at Frisk or Corsiva. "This is what keeps us all trapped underground. If…" The king paused, as if unsure of what to say. "If by any chances you have any unfinished business… please do what you must." Frisk looked over to Corsiva, who shook his head. She looked over to Chara, who also shook her head, before gesturing towards Asgore. Frisk nodded.

"We don't have anything left to do." She told Asgore, feeling somewhat confident. Asgore was silent for a few seconds.

"…I see…" He stated. "This is it, then." He finished, before turning around to look at Corsiva and Frisk. "Ready?" He asked them. Frisk looked back at Corsiva, who nodded confidently, as his armor spread out across his body, _Cachear_ forming in his right hand, as he gripped it tightly. Asgore nodded back at them, his head lowering, as seven large glass jars came out from the ground. Concealed inside of six of the jars were six human SOULs, each one a different color. However, the seventh, was empty. Frisk knew who it was for. But, she didn't let her confidence waver. As the speaker played the intro to a song (the intro being named "Bergentrückung"), Chara suddenly started speaking.

"That strange light, filling the room… I recognize it. It's twilight, shining through the barrier. It seems like our journey is finally at an end." She saw the looks on Frisk's and Corsiva's faces. "I know those looks." A smirk graced her face. "You're both filled with Determination." The speaker finished playing the intro, and Asgore pulled his head up slightly, his eyes closed, though his head was pointed in the general direction of Frisk and Corsiva.

"Human…" He started, "Corsiva…" He opened his eyes to look at them sincerely, if only for a few seconds. "It was nice to meet you both." His eyes closed once again, and his head lowered, he seemed like he was unable to look them in the eyes.

"Goodbye." He pulled out a large trident that was glowing red, and got into a sort of battle stance, revealing that he was wearing a suit of armor of his own underneath the cape. The speaker started playing the proper battle theme that Corsiva had created, this one simply titled "ASGORE."

In another time, Corsiva would have chuckled at the thought that he had simply titled Asgore's battle theme "ASGORE," as it was common knowledge through the underground that Asgore was terrible at naming. But this time was not one of those times.

"Stats?" Frisk asked Corsiva. Corsiva felt his eyes start glowing as he CHECKed Asgore, for lack of a better term.

"ASGORE attacks! LV: 6/20." He started calmly. "EXP: 200. AT: 80. DF: 80. HP: 3500/3500." He stopped speaking, looking at Asgore, who had started forming fire magic around him. Suddenly, the fire shot forward, in almost random patterns. Almost. As he and Frisk dodged the attacks, which were so greatly spaced apart, Corsiva noted that it seemed like Asgore didn't really have his heart in the fight.

"What, no helpful tip?" Frisk asked him. "No additional funny comment?" He shrugged.

"I've got nothing." He told her. She rolled her eyes, and quickly dodged another round of fire magic being shot in her and Corsiva's general direction.

"I don't want to fight you, Asgore." Frisk said softly, not sure if he had even heard her. Corsiva noticed that his hands started trembling slightly, if only for a moment. As the group weaved around the intricate patterns of flames, Frisk summoned a bit more confidence, before continuing.

"We don't need to fight, Asgore." She stated, a bit more loudly than she had first managed. She, Corsiva, and Chara all noticed Asgore's breathing becoming a bit… funny, before it went back to normal. Asgore backed up slightly, his face still shrouded in the shadows that his bowed head had cast, and his left eye suddenly flashed a cyan color three times in a sequential pattern. Before Frisk could understand what that meant, he swiped at the group with his trident. Frisk froze in fear, and waited for the trident to come into contact with her… but it never did. She suddenly noticed that the trident was glowing a cyan color, and immediately realized what the flashing of his eyes meant. The trident came down for two more swipes, still glowing blue, and passed through Corsiva and Frisk harmlessly as they stood completely still for both swipes.

"I won't fight you, Asgore!" Frisk stated firmly after the attack ended. She could tell that her words finally got through to him, and watched as a look flashed across his face and his eyes, it was almost like… recollection. Corsiva suddenly noticed something in Asgore's Stats.

"His Attack and Defense dropped!" He told Frisk, who felt excitement rush through her body.

"Really?" She asked Corsiva, amazed and hopeful. However, her asking Corsiva caused her not to be paying attention, and as such she failed to dodge a good many of the flames that came her way. She cried out in pain as the flames came into contact with her body, causing Corsiva to rush over to her, startled. As he stood in front of her, many attacks came into contact with him as well, but he didn't flinch. He barely even noticed the flames; his full attention was on Frisk.

"Are you alright?" He asked her, concern and fear evident in his voice, as his eyes glowed yellow. She nodded numbly, trying to keep him from worrying about her, though her vision began to blur slightly. Corsiva, however, wasn't tricked in the slightest. He frowned at her, and gently helped her up to her feet. Suddenly, realization flashed across his face.

"The pie!" He told her. "Eat the pie!" She nodded again, before taking the butterscotch/cinnamon pie out of her pockets, and biting into it. As her HP returned from 2/20 to 20/20, Asgore looked like he had remembered something, like the smell had reminded him of something.

"Attack down, Defense down." Corsiva informed Frisk. She nodded, her vision clearing quickly, as she felt her determination continue to rise. _**Did you know that would happen?**_ She asked Corsiva mentally. _**Honestly, no.**_ He responded. _**But that's the thing about this world. We never actually know what will happen. We can only make educated guesses based on what we know about what has already happened and what we think we know about the odds of our situation.**_ Frisk nearly nodded, but stopped herself when she realized it would look crazy if she did. She opened her mouth to say something to Asgore, before Corsiva grabbed her arm, causing her not to say anything.

"Frisk…" He started, his expression apologetic. "He won't accept your mercy. You can't spare him, and unlike the fight with Undyne, you can't run from him. I'm sorry. But there's only one thing you can do. You have to fight." Frisk was silent for a few seconds, before she nodded sadly. She pulled out her stick, and moved to attack Asgore. The attack did a reasonable amount of damage, surprisingly. Asgore, however, didn't speak. He simply attacked back.

It continued like this for a while. Frisk or Corsiva would attack Asgore, they would dodge the attacks that Asgore threw back at them, rinse and repeat. Eventually, Corsiva noticed something.

"Asgore has low HP!" He told Frisk. Frisk nodded, and struck Asgore one last time. He fell to his knees, his eyes closed, as he clutched his chest.

"Ah." He stated, his voice trembling slightly, as he was quite obviously in pain. "So that is how it is." They were all silent for a few seconds. The speaker started playing The Choice once more, as Asgore spoke thus:

"I remember the day after my son died. The entire underground was devoid of hope. The future had once again been taken from us by the humans. In a fit of anger, I declared war. I said that I would destroy any human that came here. I would use their souls to become godlike… and free us from this terrible prison. Then, I would destroy humanity… and let monsters rule the surface, in peace. Soon, the people's hopes returned. My wife, however, became disgusted with my actions. She left this place, never to be seen again. Truthfully… I do not want power. I do not want to hurt anyone. I just wanted everyone to have hope… I cannot take this any longer. I just want to see my wife. I just want to see my child. Please… young one… this war has gone on long enough. You have the power… take my soul, and leave this cursed place."

Frisk was silent for a few seconds, shocked at Asgore's words. Eventually, though, she started thinking again. She dropped her stick to the ground with a slight "Thud!" She cleared her throat, before speaking:

"No. I won't." Asgore was shocked, and the music stopped.

"After everything I have done to hurt you…" He started, "you would rather stay down here and suffer… than live happily on the surface?" He looked up at her, his face hopeful, as a song called "Memory" started coming through the speaker, exactly like the song coming from the music box in the statue back in waterfall.

"Human… I promise you… for as long as you remain here… my wife and I will take care of you as best we can. We can sit in the living room, telling stories… eating butterscotch pie… We could be like…" A small smile graced Asgore's face, as he looked even more hopeful, his eyes wide. "Like a family…"

As Frisk smiled at the idea, and Corsiva just smiled that everything had turned out okay, the all sat in silence for a few seconds. Suddenly, the music stopped, and Asgore was surrounded by little, white, floating, seeds. His eyes widened in horror, as all but one of the seeds closed in on him, and came into contact with him. Before Frisk, Chara, and Corsiva's horrified eyes, Asgore turned to dust, and his upside down, white SOUL appeared. Finally, the last seed touched the SOUL, immediately causing it to crack, and shatter into nothingness. Before their very eyes, a small golden flower with a face popped out of the ground, grinning widely. The trio immediately recognized the flower, as it spoke in its high pitched, demonic, and insane voice.

"You IDIOT." Flowey insulted Frisk. "You haven't learned a thing. Hee hee hee." Suddenly, the six SOULs appeared around Flowey. "In this world…" His face started deforming, becoming more and more creepy and terrifying. "It's KILL or BE killed." The SOULs moved closer around Flowey, as he laughed his demonic, terrifying, insane laugh, and a flash of white light suddenly flooded their vision.

* * *

 **SAVE FILE CORRUPTED. LOADING NEW FILE…**


	29. Dream Team VS The Nightmare

When the light finally disappeared, Frisk, Corsiva, and Chara all looked around to see that they were in a large, black, and empty place, almost like the Void where they previously encountered the two buttons. They looked around for a while, before realizing that they were all alone. Corsiva felt a bit unnerved, with how empty it was. Eventually, they all heard a loud banging noise. They looked around, trying to find where it was coming from, when suddenly, a large TV screen appeared to break through from nothing, displaying Flowey's face.

"Howdy!" He greeted. "It's me, FLOWEY. FLOWEY the FLOWER! I owe you a HUGE thanks. You really did a number on that old fool. Without you guys, I NEVER could have gotten past him. But now, with YOUR help… he's DEAD. And I've got the human SOULS!" A distorted, warped, and creepy laugh filled the room. "Boy! I've been empty for so long… it feels great to have a SOUL inside of me again. Mmmm, I can feel them wriggling… awww, you're feeling left out, aren't you?" He directed his attention to Frisk. "Well that's just perfect! After all, I only have six souls. I still need one more…. before I become GOD. And the, with my newfound powers… Monsters. Humans. Everyone. I'll show them all the REAL meaning of this world." The same laugh came once again.

"Oh, and forget about escaping to your old SAVE FILE." He spoke to both Frisk and Corsiva again. "It's gone FOREVER. But don't worry. Your old friend FLOWEY… has worked out a replacement for you! I'll SAVE over your own death." His face became more insane and terrifying, and continued to do so as he continued to speak. "So you can watch me tear you to bloody pieces…" Frisk's eyes widened in horror, Chara wasn't sure what to do, and Corsiva just glared at Flowey, unimpressed. "Over, and over, and over…" Corsiva stepped forward defiantly, _Cachear_ forming in his hand. Frisk picked up her stick from the ground, and stepped forward as well.

"Are you done monologuing yet?" Corsiva asked, his voice filled with confidence, his entire being filled with determination.

"…What?" Flowey questioned. "Do you really think you can stop ME? Hee hee hee." His face (mostly) returned to normal in the TV screen. "You really ARE a couple of idiots."

The TV screen disappeared, and the world became completely black once more. Suddenly, the world began flashing red as well as black, as a completely black silhouette of a monster appeared, moving into view, as several parts of it continued to vibrate and move about of their own will. As a song continued playing in the background, one that Corsiva didn't create or recognize, the thing eventually stopped moving, revealing a large white face, which began smiling widely. Suddenly, the black slits that resembled its eyes split apart, revealing a pair of sideways, red eyes, and the room became black once more, as the creature finally came completely into view. It was a horrible beast, comprised of a TV screen on top of a second face, with six tubes running out of it, a pair of eyes in two of the tubes, many pieces of machinery above the TV, and several large vines spread out all over the place, two of which with things that resembled paws with red claws attached to the ends of them. A demonic laugh filled the room, silencing the music, and booming out of every corner, filling the trio with dread.

Suddenly, a large barrage of attacks was thrown at them all, consisting of ninja stars, flames, vines, and "friendliness pellets."

"Stats?" Frisk asked Corsiva as they dodged.

"Can't talk," He started. "Too busy dodging." _**Omega Flowey.**_ He mentally communicated. _**LV: 9999. AT: N/A. DF: N/A. HP: N/A. Your best friend, evidently. It's impossible to tell how powerful he really is, but let's assume that he's nigh god-like. However, he's not an actual god, at least not yet. He told us that himself. So that means that beating him, however difficult and/or unlikely, is for certain, 100% POSSIBLE.**_ Frisk nodded at this, and swiped at Flowey with her stick. Corsiva was shocked enough at what it did to Flowey that he froze in place for a few seconds.

"Corsiva!" Frisk shouted at him, causing him to jump back to reality, and just barely dodge a giant blue/white laser beam that was shot out of the second mouth.

 _ **How much of his HP did that take away?**_ She asked him.

 _ **To coin a phrase, it wasn't very effective.**_ Corsiva responded. _**You damaged him for 1 HP. If my calculations are correct, then that means that his overall DF is at about 600, and his HP is around… 6000. Well, 5999 now. Let me CHECK how much damage he can cause.**_ Corsiva stood still, purposefully letting one of the attacks hit him. It didn't do much damage, seeing as how he had so much HP. _**19 AT.**_ He told Frisk.

 _ **That's… surprisingly weak.**_ Frisk told him.

 _ **I know.**_ Corsiva responded. _**Also, it looks like since you didn't gain any EXP or LV, your HP was heightened. Looks like you can take about 13 attacks from him before you die and your SOUL can be absorbed.**_ Frisk was confused.

 _ **How many attacks would I normally be able to take while fighting him?**_ She asked.

 _ **Uh… I think about 10 times, maybe more, maybe less.**_ Corsiva responded. They continued to dodge for a while, before suddenly, the attacks stopped, and a soft alarm sounded. Looking closely, the TV screen was now displaying a warning message, with the cyan SOUL underneath it, and one of the six tubes was now glowing blue. After a few seconds, the screen became static, and every part of Omega Flowey's body except for the TV disappeared.

Suddenly, the static disappeared, revealing just the SOUL on screen, as hundreds upon thousands of toy knives appeared around them, and began swinging wildly through the air. The song had changed tunes, ditching the intense, chaotic heavy metal sound, and going for a more friendly(ish) tune, one that was more pixelated and 16-bit sounding. Somewhere, Corsiva recognized it as a rendition of the song he had made regarding Flowey, "Your Best Friend," and decided to name the tune from before "Your Best Nightmare." As they tried their best to dodge the knives, the patterns became more and more random, and the two were caught several times, bringing their HP down a lot.

"Please, stop!" Frisk called to the SOUL.

"You don't have to obey Flowey, we're trying to stop him!" Corsiva added.

"We just need your help!" Frisk finally called, and quite suddenly, the knives slowed and started vibrating, as the music slowed down to a stop.

Before their very eyes, the knives became green, magical band-aids, and they floated over to Frisk and Corsiva. Upon contact, the band-aids healed the duo, as Chara watched in wonder. Corsiva looked up at the TV screen, and at the SOUL.

"Thank you." He said gratefully. He could swear that he almost felt an aura coming from the SOUL, and that it was almost… responding to him? He could practically hear a child's voice calling out, distant and close at the same time.

"Flowey lost his way long ago." The voice, sounding childish and female, called. "You can not beat him alone, nor can you with just my help. But please, have patience. The answer will come to you in time." Before he could figure out what it meant, the screen became static once more, and they were pulled back to fighting Flowey.

Corsiva hadn't noticed before, but it looked like the TV screen was switching between the white, disturbing face from before, to another, more distorted, black and white, almost human looking face, and one that looked to be more in distress, almost like it was fighting something. But, he put that off to the side. The attacks were different now, comprising of things like snakes bouncing off the walls, bombs with Flowey's face on them, plant stems that shot bullets at them, and Venus flytraps that sucked in multiple flies which damaged Corsiva and Frisk when touched. The song, too, was different again; it was a slightly different tune and a bit more intense. Corsiva noted that the bottom left tube, which had been the one that had been glowing cyan before, was now just completely gray, almost lifeless. The duo continued to try and dodge the attacks to the best of their ability, as Chara just watched. Eventually, Frisk dared to attack Flowey again, swinging at him with her stick. The attack didn't do much, taking away a measly 3 HP. But, it was better than nothing, she supposed.

Eventually, the warning sound returned, and the TV revealed an orange SOUL this time. The bottom right tube started glowing orange as well. Again, the body disappeared, and Frisk and Corsiva prepared themselves for whatever was about to come. The music became different again, and before their eyes, they were suddenly surrounded by gloves. The gloves, which appeared to be in the shapes of fists as if there were invisible hands inside of them, were punching around wildly at the air. Corsiva tactfully began blocking the punches, rather than try to dodge them.

"Bruce Lee, eat your heart out." He quipped, causing Frisk to chuckle slightly.

"Please, fighting us won't get anybody anywhere!" She called to the SOUL. "We want to stop Flowey, but we can't do it without your help!" The gloves vibrated, and the music slowed once more. Eventually, the fists became green thumbs-up signs, and the group gladly accepted the healing magic. Again, the SOUL called out to them.

"Things aren't looking good right now, but don't fret. Keep hold of your bravery, you'll get through this in time!" Again, they all were pulled out and back to fighting Flowey.

His attacks were about the same as the first phase that Corsiva and Frisk went through, and he mostly used the same patterns, too. However, the trio quickly found that it was a bit more difficult. As Corsiva was in the middle of dodging an attack, he felt something strange. Nothing happened as a result of it, so he put it off. Then, just as he was about to dodge another attack… he was back at the attack he just dodged. He quickly reoriented himself and dodged it again, but it still was strange. This process repeated another two times, before he realized what was going on. _**Flowey's manipulating the time stream!**_ He told Frisk.

 _ **He can DO that!?**_ She asked.

 _ **I guess! I mean, we have the ability to do it too, but I don't know how HE would be able to. How does he even have knowledge of it, anyway? How are WE able to do it, for that matter?**_ Neither of them knew the answer to any of these questions, though Corsiva had some theories. Regardless, they both continued to dodge, waiting for the next SOUL to appear.

Eventually, the warning returned, and they moved on to another new phase, this time with a blue SOUL. The blue SOUL happened to be attacking them with giant ballet shoes stomping down towards them, as they were trapped inside of floating stars. Eventually, Frisk got the common sense to say:

"We need your help to fight Flowey!" Again, the attacks slowed down and vibrated, before the ballet shoes floated upwards, and the damaging stars became green, healing eighth notes (or quavers, if you want to refer to them in the British way). And again, the SOUL spoke thus:

"You need to keep focus on what you seek! If your integrity holds true, you'll win the day!" And yet again, they were ejected back into fighting Flowey. They kept fighting in this pattern for a while. Frisk and Corsiva would fight Flowey for a little bit, then they would start fighting one of the SOULs, before they called for help. The other three SOULs were purple, who fought them using negatively connotated words that came out of two giant notebooks, green, who fought them using two frying pans that sent fireballs at them, and yellow, who shot at them with a gun.

Each time they called for help, the SOULs would stop attacking, and would start healing them (purple with words like "HOPE" and "MERCY", green with eggs, and yellow with now-green colored bullets), and give them words of encouragement. Purple told them:

"You must keep going, you cannot give up so far into your journey! Through determination and perseverance, you can win the day, and stop the enemy ahead of you!" Green told them:

"Flowey wasn't always as malicious as he is now. He just lost sight of the value of kindness. If you would, re-educate him on that matter, for me!" Finally, Yellow told them this:

"Flowey has strayed from the path of good, and has caused many a people to suffer. You must bring him to justice, and end their suffering."

After they finished hearing what the yellow SOUL had to say to them, the TV screen became static once more. However, instead of going back to fighting Flowey once more, Frisk, Chara, and Corsiva were greeted with something else entirely. As dramatic piano music started playing, all six SOULs appeared around the trio, and started sending out healing magic.

"I think that this is the final stretch." Corsiva said to Frisk, causing her to nod.

"No turning back now." She responded.

"We can't lose." Chara added.

"I think that it's time to turn the tables on our best friend." Frisk said aloud, a determined expression on her face.

"The Finale is upon us." Corsiva said. "We will win. We MUST win. Flowey is going DOWN."

The TV turned to static once more, and the SOULs disappeared, presumably going back into it, and as the music became more intense and picked up quickly, Flowey appeared before them once more, but something was off slightly. Frisk couldn't completely tell what it was, and neither could Chara. However, Corsiva figured it out immediately.

"Flowey's defense dropped to ZERO!" He shouted to Frisk, causing her eyes to widen in joy and wonder. Flowey attacked them with everything he had, and Frisk and Corsiva returned the favor, doing a good amount of damage with each hit. Every time that one of them failed to dodge one of his attacks, a green healing attack of some kind would slowly float down for them to touch and use from behind the TV screen. The battle was long and difficult, but eventually, they managed to land the final blow on Flowey, bringing his HP all the way down to 0, and causing the music and all of his attacks to halt.

"No… NO!" He shouted, his voice magnified and demonic. "This CAN'T be happening! You… YOU…" Quite suddenly, a soft "Ding!" noise rung out, as Flowey's face became the iconic meme that was the troll face, and his HP was brought all the way back to full. Corsiva realized almost instantly what had happened; Flowey had reloaded one of his SAVE files. Frisk, Chara, and Corsiva's faces all collectively fell.

"You IDIOTS." Flowey insulted them. Before they had a chance to react, they were blasted into nothingness by Flowey's mouth-beam thing, killing them instantly.

Then, they were back, and they were instantly impaled on vines, again killing them. Then, they were back again, and were once again blasted into nothing. Then they were impaled. Then they were blasted. Impaled. Blasted. Impaled. Blasted. Hundreds of times this same exact thing happened to them, and it was unbearable. Eventually, the vines didn't completely kill them. Instead, they were just brought to the point of _almost_ dying, but still being alive. Before they could react to anything, Corsiva's legs were grabbed by vines and he was pulled into the air, while Frisk became encased inside a ring of Friendliness Pellets.

"Hee hee hee. Did you REALLY think… you could defeat ME!? I am the GOD of this world. And YOU? You're HOPELESS. Hopeless and alone… golly, that's right! Your WORTHLESS friends… can't save you now. Not even this useless pile of bones that you call 'Corsiva.'" Flowey summoned more vines, and grabbed Corsiva's arms.

"Why would you be friends with, or even CARE about anything…" Flowey started, grinning maniacally, as he held Corsiva so that his legs were at level height with his arms. "…that can't even pretend to HALF care about itself?"

To Frisk's horror, Flowey started pulling on all of the vines, and before her very eyes, Corsiva's body was ripped in half. He screamed out in agony.

"Corsiva!" Frisk screamed. Corsiva's screams slowly quieted down, as he felt his eyes start closing slowly.

"He'll be of no help to you NOW." Flowey taunted, sounding absolutely delighted. "And none of your other friends are here to help him, or YOU for that matter." Frisk sank to her knees, and felt tears start streaming down her face and onto the ground.

 _ **God, I'm really glad that he only takes me at face value.**_ Frisk suddenly heard Corsiva mentally talking to her. _**I don't know if I would actually be able to fool him if he didn't.**_ She almost cried out in joy, but quickly stopped herself.

 _ **You're alright!**_ She called, filled with joy, and relief.

 _ **Yeah, I' m fine.**_ Corsiva responded nonchalantly. _**He may have ripped me in half, but he didn't think about how I'm a skeleton. He didn't actually break anything, per say. He just separated my torso and upper half from my hips and lower half. Technically speaking, I'm completely fine. I just can't move my legs anymore, as they aren't connected to my spine anymore. I just gotta pop my lower half back into place, and I'll be good to go.**_ Flowey hadn't noticed that Frisk's expression had become slightly more cheerful, and continued speaking.

"Call for help. I dare you." He dared Frisk. "Cry into the darkness! 'Mommy! Daddy! Somebody help!' See what good it does you!" Frisk decided to humor him.

"Help! Anybody!" She called. Flowey was silent for a few seconds.

"But nobody came." He eventually started. "Boy! What a shame! Nobody else… is gonna get to see you DIE!" His demonic, booming laugh returned, as the ring of Friendliness Pellets slowly closed in on Frisk. Before they could touch her, however, they suddenly disappeared, and her HP was brought all the way back up.

"What?" Flowey was incredibly confused. "How'd you… ? Well, I'll just…" He attempted something, but nothing happened. "Wh… Where are my powers!?" He screamed out, scared and confused.

Corsiva, taking his opportunity, grabbed his lower half with Blue Magic, and very simply put himself back together, standing up like nothing was wrong.

"Oh?" He asked, feeling a strong urge to taunt Flowey. "Did you forget about a few people? You probably did, since they're kind of dead. But… they might not be completely happy with you." Before Flowey could respond to what Corsiva had said, or even figure out what it meant, all six SOULs appeared in front of him, glowing brightly.

"The souls…?" Flowey asked aloud. "What are they doing?"

Suddenly, the SOULS started spinning very quickly around Flowey, and energy crackled off of them erratically. Corsiva covered his eyes slightly, it was getting so bright.

"NO! NO! YOU CAN'T DO THAT! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO OBEY ME!" Flowey was screaming in terror, trying to regain control. "STOP! STOP IT! STOOOOPPPP!" As the light the SOULs were giving off continued to climb, the void was filled with an intense, white, blinding light. After a few seconds, the light faded, and Flowey was revealed on the ground in front of them, in his original flower form, albeit clearly weakened, and unable to fight them anymore. Everyone in the room was silent for a few seconds, before Frisk dropped her stick onto the ground.

"…What are you doing?" Flowey questioned her. "Do you really think I've learned anything from this? No. Sparing me won't change anything. Killing me is the only way to end this." Frisk and Corsiva stayed silent.

"If you let me live…" Flowey started turning to look at them, a small, insane looking grin starting to form on his face. "I'll come back." As he spoke, his face became more and more insane looking. "I'll kill you. I'll kill everyone. I'll kill everyone you love." Corsiva shook his head.

"I won't kill you, Flowey." Frisk told him firmly. Flowey's grin faded, and his expression became that of frustration, interlaced with confusion.

"Why?" He asked. "Why are you being… so nice to me?" Frisk was silent, as Corsiva answered for her.

"Because everybody deserves mercy, Flowey. Even if they don't think they do." Flowey was silent, before tears somehow started forming on his face, his expression still confused.

"I can't understand." He said aloud. "I can't understand! I just can't understand…" Before their eyes, Flowey shrunk down, and went back into the ground, disappearing.

"Flowey ran away." Chara said simply, amazed.

 **A/N - Aaaand that's the end of Flowey... for now, at least. Also, just so you know, in later, more serious chapters, I won't be making these little end comments/author's notes as much, until things get more lighthearted again, as you'll soon see. What do I mean by that, you ask? Well, you'll just have to see. Anyways, hope you have a good day, and I'll see you next time.**

 **-SF**


	30. An Ending?

Eventually, the group's eyes adjusted, and they realized they were on the other side of the Barrier somehow. Frisk looked over at Corsiva, her face confused. Corsiva silently just shrugged; he didn't have any idea how they were on the other side, either. They silently looked forward. It was now nighttime on the Surface; evidently, their fight with Flowey had taken a while. Chara looked out across the mountain, speechless.

"We… we did it." Frisk said, awestruck.

"We're on the Surface." Corsiva added. "You're home." They were silent for a bit. Corsiva looked over at Frisk. So badly he wanted to tell her right then and there who he was, what his relationship to her was. Like before, it would be so easy. But, just like before, he didn't. It wasn't the right time. So, instead, they all sat in silence for a few seconds.

Eventually, Corsiva stood up, looking resolved.

"Frisk…" He started. "I just wanted to say… I'm really glad that I had the chance to do this with you. That I had the chance to meet you in the first place. You did a lot, met a lot of people, went a lot of places, and all in one day, and I was lucky enough to be a part of that. And I'm really glad I did. And, I'm glad that you're still alive, and that you're okay, but…" Corsiva paused, unsure of what to say. "I can't stay here." He eventually told her. She looked at him, confused.

"As much as I'd like to stay here on the surface with you, to just spend more time with you, I just… I can't. My friends… my family… my home… that's all in the Underground. It's where I belong. Where I feel like I'm worth something." He looked down at where they just walked out of. When he looked back at Frisk, she was crying. "Oh, Frisk…" he moved forward, and hugged her tightly.

"I don't want you to have to go." She whispered to him. "I don't want to be alone again." Corsiva felt immensely sad at this, but he still knew that he couldn't stay. Eventually, they broke away, and Corsiva saw that Frisk was still crying.

"Hey, chin up." He told her, offering a small smile, wiping a tear away from her eye, and gently pushing her chin up so that she would look at him. "This won't be the last time we see each other." He told her. "I'll always be with you, Frisk. And besides, you've still got Chara. So, you're never alone. Not truly." She nodded, and Corsiva stood back up to full height.

He turned to walk back towards the barrier. Before he walked through, however, he looked back at Frisk. She was staring at him longingly. He gave a small smile, and spoke:

"Stay safe, for me." And with that, he turned back, and calmly walked back through the Barrier, and into the Underground. Behind him, Frisk continued to cry, feeling like she just lost a piece of herself once more.

Two months later…

The phone was ringing. Chara noticed it almost immediately.

"Hey, Frisk, your phone is going off." Frisk nodded, but just couldn't bring herself to answer it, though, so she just let it go through to voicemail.

"Hi, sorry I can't come to the phone right now." Frisk's automated voicemail said. "Leave a message, and I'll do my best to call you back!" The tone beeped, and as Frisk moved to put the phone on speaker, a familiar voice came through.

"heya." Sans greeted casually, causing Frisk to lean up ever so slightly. "is anyone there…? well… just calling to say. you made a snowman really happy." Chara snickered, as Frisk let a small smile appear on her face for the first time in two months. "… guess i should say something else, too." Sans was silent for a few seconds, as somber piano music started playing in the background, before he started:

"so… it's been a while. the queen returned, and is now ruling over the underground. she's enstated a new policy… all the humans who fall here will be treated not as enemies… but as friends. it's probably for the best, anyway. the human souls the king gathered… seem to have disappeared. so, uh, that plan ain't happening any time soon. but even though people are heartbroken over the king… and things are looking grim for our freedom… the queen's trying her best not to let us give up hope. so, uh, hey… if we 're not giving up down here... don't give up wherever you are, ok? who knows how long it will take... but we will get out of here. that's a promise."

Suddenly, a second voice was heard through the receiver.

"SANS! WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?" Frisk grinned as she heard the childish voice of Papyrus shouting on the other end.

"oh, nobody." She and Chara both could practically hear Sans wink, they knew him so well.

"WHAT!? NOBODY!? CAN I TALK TO THEM TOO?"

"here, knock yourself out."

"WAIT A SECOND… I RECOGNISE THIS NUMBER!" Papyrus cleared his nonexistent throat, before continuing.

"ATTENTION, HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS… AM NOW CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD! IT'S EVERYTHING I EVER DREAMED OF… EXCEPT, INSTEAD OF FIGHTING, WE JUST WATER FLOWERS. SO THAT'S EVER-SO-SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT. AND, WE'RE HELPING DR. ALPHYS WITH HER RESEARCH! SHE'S GONNA FIND A WAY TO GET US OUT OF HERE. UNDYNE IS HELPING HER TOO! THOUGH, TO BE HONEST, HER METHOD OF HELPING… SEEMS KIND OF… EXPLOSION INDUCING. BUT I THINK ALPHYS LIKES HAVING HER AROUND. UH OH!" A third voice came through the line.

"Hey!" Undyne shout-greeted. "What are you up to, punk!? Ngahhhh!"

"PLEASE DON'T NOOGIE THE PHONE."

"Hey! Who's in charge here!?"

"ME." They were silent for a second, before Undyne started talking again.

"Oh… yeah, that's right! I quit my job as leader of the Royal Guard. Actually, since we won't be fighting anymore… the Royal Guard totally disbanded. There's, uh, only one member now."

"BUT HE'S EXTREMELY GOOD."

"Yeah! He is! C'mere!"

"PLEASE DON'T NOOGIE THE SKELETON." Frisk let out a soft chuckle at the antics going on on the other end of the line.

"Anyways, now I'm working as Alphys' lab assistant… we're going to find a way out of this dump once and for all! Oh yeah, and I'm a gym teacher at the queen's new school. Did you know I can bench-press seven children!? Awesome, right?" There was more silence for a few seconds, before Undyne spoke again, albeit a lot softer, and more somber.

"Hey. I'm sorry about what happened with ASGORE. Corsiva told me what happened between you guys. You were just doing what you had to do. It's not your fault he…" Another second of silence. "…Ah, darn it. I miss the big guy." More silence. "Come on, Undyne! Snap out of it! Uh, I guess I'll tell you how Alphys is doing. Well, she's the same as ever. Maybe a little more reclusive than normal . Seems like something's really bothering her… But she can get through it! I'm there supporting her! That's what friends are for, right?" Finally, one last voice came through the phone, causing Frisk to perk up immediately.

"Of course it is." Corsiva spoke.

"How long have you been behind me!?" Undyne jumped. "How did you even manage to sneak up on me!? How do you and Sans even do that sort of crap!?"

"Undyne, you've known me for over four years now, and you still don't understand that I'm never gonna give you a straight answer to a question like that?" Undyne sighed. "Anyways, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to actually have the chance to talk to the human, please."

"Oh, uh, yeah sure!" Undyne exclaimed. Frisk waited as she heard the phone being passed over to Corsiva.

"So, I won't ask the question of 'how are you doing.' That would be stupid for a number of reasons. First off, you haven't even picked up the phone yet, and why ask somebody who isn't there how life has been treating them? Secondly, you haven't been answering any calls in general since you left the underground. And third, I should probably know how you're doing; the last time I saw you, when I told you I had to go… well, I'm sure that you remember.

"I just want to ask… was it all worth it? Falling into the underground, meeting all of the monsters inside, going on that big journey? Was it worth it? I know that you didn't just come here for no reason. Everybody has a reason for why they go someplace, and you don't just come to a mountain that nobody ever returns from without realizing that you're going there, so…? Well, truthfully, you don't have to answer my question. I know that I couldn't force you into doing anything, even if I really wanted to. I just… well, can you blame a guy for curious?

"Well, with that out of the way, I just want to say… I miss you. I really do. Papyrus, Sans, Undyne, Alphys, they all miss you, too. The truth is, everybody in the underground misses you, even if they don't realize it. And, well… wherever you are now, whatever life has brought you, I just hope that you're happy, and that you're safe. I don't think I could live with myself if… well, if something happened to you because I went back to the underground. I…" Corsiva sighed, sounding dejected.

"Well, I won't waste your time with 'what if' scenarios and probabilities, you probably don't care about any of that. I'll just say this: wherever you are now, have hope. There's no way that we've seen each other for the last time. So, just stay happy. For all our sakes' down here in the underground." Undyne interrupted him:

"We'll feel better knowing our trouble was worth 're all with you! Everyone is! Even the Queen!" There were a few seconds of silence, before Undyne apparently realized something. "HEYYY! WAIT a second!"

"Oh, I see what you're thinking about." Corsiva said aloud. "If you're going to do it, just go ahead and get it done already."

"TORIEL!" Undyne called for the queen on the other end. "TORIEL! Do you wanna…? Heh, she says she's busy."

"BUT IF SHE KNEW WHO WE WERE TALKING TO…" Papyrus interjected.

"we wouldn't get the phone back for at least a few hours." Sans joked.

"Oh, come on sans." Corsiva jokingly berated. "I think you're underestimating there a bit. It would be a few days at least."

"WE HAVE THE MERCY TO SPARE YOU FROM HER!" Papyrus added on to the joke.

"Besides, I don't think this phone has enough battery life to last that long, anyways." Corsiva said truthfully.

"But call back any time, ok!?" Undyne shouted. "She'd love to talk!"

"oh, whoops." Sans started. "speaking of batteries, looks like this thing's almost out of em. so, hate to cut this short, but… be seeing you, ok, buddy?"

"BYE BYE FOR NOW!" Papyrus gave his farewell statement.

"See ya, punk!" Undyne said goodbye, too, leaving just Corsiva left.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye, then." He started. "For now, at least. Well, I feel like I should give some meaningful final message, one with a very rich description, and that can really give you a lesson about morals, and the standards of our society. I believe that shakespeare once wrote something that would work perfectly for this circumstance." Corsiva cleared his throat, and took a deep breath. "…Nah, I'm just messing with ya. I don't care enough about english or literature to really know anything about any of shakespeare's writings, so I wouldn't know any quotes of his, either. So, yeah. I'll see you around, Frisk." And with that, Corsiva hung up the phone, ending the message.

Frisk stared at the now silent phone, a small smile on her face.

"Those guys really know how to make you smile, huh?" Chara asked Frisk. Frisk sighed, nodding.

"I just wish that we could see them again soon." Frisk admitted. Chara nodded. Before her very eyes, she saw Frisk slowly drift off to sleep. "If only we could go back, and do it all over again." Frisk muttered, before sleep finally overtook her.

As she opened her eyes, she saw herself surrounded by a pitch black darkness, one that seemed familiar to her. She looked around, wondering if anybody else was with her. Eventually, she saw Chara a little ways away, looking terrified, as she stared at nothing. Frisk tilted her head, wondering what had made Chara so scared, and what she could possibly be looking at. After a few seconds, Chara nodded, closing her eyes, before she started walking over to Frisk.

"What's wrong?" Frisk asked.

"Nothing." Chara lied. "I just… have a bad feeling about something." Suddenly, they were greeted with the sight of two glowing lights, and Frisk immediately realized why where she was felt so familiar. She walked up to the two buttons, remembering the last time she had seen them.

When she was here last, Corsiva had been with her, and had pressed the LOAD Button, and they had ended up right before the fight with Undyne. But, what would happen if…? She had to know. She slowly felt her hand drift towards the button, before it landed squarely on RESET. Like last time, the world around her started fading away, as it dissolved into nothing, and began reforming itself. Suddenly, she felt a sensation of falling again. She looked down, and saw… no. That was impossible. She wasn't anywhere near Mount Ebott, how was she falling down into it again? Regardless of whether or not it was possible, it was happening, and she saw the flower patch again. She carefully angled herself to fall into it once more, and suddenly, right as she touched the ground again…

* * *

 **SAVE FILE RESET.**


	31. But Nobody Came

Corsiva felt a jolting sensation inside of his SOUL. It didn't surprise him as much this time, though. But, why was he feeling this again? He had just hung up the phone call with Frisk, right? Regardless, he grabbed onto the counter, trying to regain his bearings.

"Was… was that?" He asked to nobody in particular, feeling confused. Suddenly, he became aware of the fact that he was leaning against the counter in the kitchen at his home. _**What?**_ He thought to himself. _**How is that possible, I KNOW I was just at New Home with Sans, Papyrus, and Undyne! How am I back at my house in Snowdin?**_

"i haven't felt like that since the day you arrived." The voice of his brother said, and he looked up to see Sans standing there, also leaning against the counter, his left eye glowing cyan. Now he was even more confused.

"Wh-what?" He asked, standing up straight, and beginning to pace. "What is going on?" He asked to himself, his eyes glowing white, but not manifesting his pupils. He began piecing things together in his head, albeit somewhat slowly, as he wasn't sure he wanted to believe that the conclusion he kept coming to was true.

"What day is it?" He eventually asked sans, needing something confirmed.

"uh, bro, did you forget it already?" Sans asked him, squinting slightly. "it's july 17, 2024. you know, your birthday?" Corsiva now knew WHAT had happened, he just didn't know HOW it happened.

"Sans, what I'm about to tell you might sound crazy." He started, looking at his brother. "But, I need you to help me figure something out." Sans nodded.

"go ahead." He said. Corsiva nodded gratefully.

"Alright, here goes nothing…" He took a deep breath, before he started again.

"So, I'm pretty sure that I've just gone back in time. I know that sounds crazy, but I think I can prove it. Today, the lady behind the door is going to tell us that a human recently fell into the ruins. They're going to walk through the door a little while later, and meet you and Papyrus in person, before they travel through Snowdin, getting past all of the puzzles and traps that you guys are going to set out.

"They'll fight Papyrus at the end of Snowdin, before moving on to waterfall and hotland. When you meet them in the Judgement Hall, you'll tell them the meanings of the acronyms EXP and LOVE, then proceed to judgement, before they move onto the throne room to fight Asgore. They win the fight, and leave the underground, before we give them a phone call two months later that they don't answer. That's the future I come from. I'm not entirely sure how or why I'm back, or if anything could potentially change, I just know that I'm back."

Sans had been carefully listening to everything Corsiva had been saying up until that point, and blinked in surprise.

"wow." He eventually started, seeing that Corsiva was done talking. "that's, uh… quite a lot of baggage. are you moving or something?" Corsiva rolled his eyes at Sans' joke. "now, what do you think you should do?" Sans asked.

"I feel like the best way to go about it is to try and keep some consistency with what I do, unless something has changed greatly. In that case, I'll just do what I always do; improvise." Sans nodded.

"so, that mean we're going to talk to the lady behind the door?" He asked. Corsiva nodded, and they both shifted back to the door, before Corsiva gave a knock on the door.

"Oh?" The lady, who Corsiva knew to be Toriel, answered immediately. "I was beginning to think that you two wouldn't be coming." Corsiva chuckled.

"Nah, we just made like a fish and got hooked up in something." He quipped, causing Toriel to giggle.

"so, got any news?" Sans asked.

"Actually, yes." Toriel started. "A little while ago, a human child fell into the ruins. I left them in a safe room a while ago, so that I could run some errands. And, I know it might sound strange, but they seemed… familiar." Corsiva narrowed his eyes, slightly confused.

"How so?" He asked.

"Well, even though I've never seen them before in my life, when I looked down at them, it was almost like… like I was meeting an old friend for the first time. And when I asked them a question of their preference, I somehow felt like I knew the correct answer already. Strange, is it not?" Sans whistled.

"yeah, that sure is weird. what, uh, did they look like?" Toriel didn't think for a moment, instead almost answering immediately.

"Well, she can't be any older than thirteen, by the looks of her. She has dark brown hair and brown eyes, a small and slender-looking frame, which makes me wonder how she had been treated on the surface before falling down here, soft cheeks, and she wears a light blue and pink striped sweater. When she smiles, she has a very small dimple that forms in her right cheek. But, for some reason, she looks… upset about something. She seemed fine when I first met her, but… a few seconds before I helped them get past a spike puzzle, and again when I told her to wait for me in the room, she looked… troubled by something. I know that it might just be that I was leaving her, but… I don't know."

Corsiva frowned, troubled by the new information. Toriel hadn't mentioned anything like that the last time, and he would know. He had a photographic memory, it was literally impossible for him to forget anything.

"Huh." He said aloud. "That's… weird. I wish I could say that I can help you figure out what that's about. But, well, I've never been the best help when it comes to mental and/or emotional problems. I'm a scientist, not a therapist. However unlikely, though, if they come through this door, I'll make sure to protect them, like I promised. If that involves figuring out what's wrong with them, then I'll just be working overtime, I guess." Toriel sighed.

"Thank you." She thanked Corsiva. "Well, I should probably get going." She stated. "In case the child finds their way here somehow, and begins to wonder where I am. I should also check up on that pie I was making, I wouldn't want it to burn." Corsiva chuckled.

"Well, talk to you later." He said.

"i would say 'see ya later,' but that would be inaccurate." Sans quipped. "so, yeah. bye."

"Goodbye Sans, Corsiva." Toriel said her goodbyes, and the two brothers walked away, heading back to their home.

Corsiva, upon getting into his secret lab, hacked into the cameras once again, still feeling like he should try to keep some consistency with what he had done in what he could only assume was the previous timeline. As he looked outside of the ruins, he watched Frisk leave once again. But, things were different. He frowned as he looked at her, noticing that she wasn't acting like herself at all.

She wasn't timid, she didn't look nervous, she didn't even shiver at the cold, rather, she looked completely unfazed. Her normally gentle and quiet way of walking was replaced by a cocky strut, like nothing could hurt her. And unlike the last timeline, she wasn't covered in cuts, bruises, or burn marks; instead, she was completely uninjured, in perfect physical state. It was… odd, to say the least. Hadn't she been reasonably skinny in the last timeline? Her normally innocent smile was replaced by a confident grin, and she wasn't carrying the stick that Corsiva had gotten used to in the last timeline. She was carrying a small toy knife in her right hand. That alone would be enough to set Corsiva off; Frisk was left handed, and didn't want anything that could potentially hurt somebody, they had proved that in the last timeline. What really set him off was the fact that both the toy knife and her hands were covered in dust.

Suddenly, the evidence pointed to a conclusion, and Corsiva realized what it all meant. He completely shut down, in shock, not wanting it to be true. He barely noticed that his phone had gone off, telling him that Undyne had called for the Royal Guard meeting. He didn't feel any emotion as he put on his "new" armor, bar the helmet, and grabbed _Cachear_ firmly with his right hand. In an instant, he was in Snowdin Forest, hidden in the trees. He looked at Frisk, his expression blank. His eyes were glowing white dimly, not bright enough to attract Frisk's attention, as he viewed her stats. _**LV: 6/20.**_ He thought to himself, his expression growing darker as he read. _**EXP: 200. AT: 20. DF: 11. HP: 40/40. This… thing… it isn't Frisk, or even human. It's more of a monster than any of the actual monsters in the underground.**_

He watched as the… thing walked towards the gates that Papyrus set up, to be greeted by Sans. He threw his speaker up into the air, set it to follow the thing and automatically play music like last time, before quickly shifting away, back to the Dramatic Crag for the Royal Guard meeting, his eye sockets now completely black, empty.

"Corsiva!" Undyne berated him as he appeared. "You were almost late! Where were you!?" He didn't respond, he didn't look up at Undyne, he didn't do anything. He was just silent, and still, realizing that he knew who it actually was. If it wasn't Frisk, there was only one person it could be. Undyne eyed him, suspicious and concerned, before she addressed the entire Guard.

"Listen up!" Undyne shouted, and everyone turned to look at her, except for Corsiva, whose eye sockets were still empty. "First matter of business today, we have a new member with us. I'm sure you all know Corsiva, so we're just going to move on to stations for today." Corsiva listened as everything went exactly as it did the last time, incredibly bored, and not sure what to think about anything anymore.

"Corsiva!" Undyne shouted at him to get his attention, snapping Corsiva out of his daze. "You were spacing out." She told him. He didn't apologize, didn't blink, didn't even react. Undyne frowned, concerned for her friend.

"Alright, what's going on with you?" She questioned. "Don't bother trying to hide it, I can tell there's something on your mind. So spill." Corsiva's eye sockets remained completely black, as he moved his head to stare directly at Undyne. It was slightly unnerving.

"A human is in the Underground." When he spoke, his voice was mangled somewhere between complete neutrality, betrayal, and utter, grim seriousness.

"Everybody get to your posts, watch for that Human!" Undyne told the Guard after she unfroze. "If you come across them, don't hesitate. We have a job to do, and by god, we are going to do it! Now let's move out!" Everybody in the Guard cheered, and ran off to their posts, except for Corsiva, who stayed silent and unmoving. Undyne cautiously walked up to her friend, still concerned for him. "What's bothering you?" She asked him, but he didn't answer. She sighed, realizing that she wasn't going to get anywhere with this approach.

"Alright, if you won't answer that, then do you have any tips for what I should do, on what the human might be like? You used to be a human, after all." Corsiva tensed up, and looked directly at Undyne. His eyes hadn't formed any pupils, hadn't begun glowing, hadn't changed from their pure black state, yet Undyne could still see the amount of strangled emotions inside of them.

"This… _thing_ … isn't human." He stated darkly, his voice laced with anger, venom, and hatred, shocking Undyne even further. "It might have been at one point, but it's not anymore. And by god, the human it used to be was once my Sister. I knew her my entire life before I fell. But she's not here anymore. There's just this… monster, no, this _demon_ in her place.

"She is not what she used to be, what I taught her to be. So, I only have one piece of advice for you." Corsiva was shaking with rage now, it was scaring Undyne slightly. "Do what you do best. Fight. KILL. Keep them from getting past you, at the very least. Give it your all. If you can't kill them, then at the very least keep them occupied for as long as you can." Undyne was looking at him with a shocked expression on her face.

"I'm normally all about mercy, and showing your enemies kindness, but in this instance, I can't bring myself to care about any of those things anymore. My Sister is gone. I have no mercy to give, not to the human, not to anybody. I can see everything bad that they have done, everything they can do. Everything they WILL do, if we don't stop them. So, Undyne, I ask you now: Be the hero everybody knows you are, and stop them. Because if you don't, I'll have to. And I REALLY don't want to do that.

"Right now, everybody has one single goal. Stop them. Kill them. And I swear, we will accomplish that goal. The court is set. The accused is in sight. Right now, we are judge, jury, and executioner. Justice is blind, but we. Are. NOT. I will not show mercy to this _demon._ I know you will not either. We can't let them get past us, we can't let them win. This isn't about monsterkind, this is about EVERYBODY. Humans and Monsters. So now, on this day, we MUST win. The fate of the entire World rests on our shoulders. Everybody is depending on us. And we won't fail." Undyne looked at Corsiva in a new light, seeing passion coming from him like never before, and nodded. Corsiva responded with a nod of his own, before they both turned away and left.


	32. Warnings, Dismissed Offers, Plans

Corsiva got back to Snowdin a little bit later, not bothering to Quantum Shift, preferring to walk, and allow himself time to think. He had meant every word of what he had said to Undyne. But he wasn't sure if he would be able to follow through. Only time would tell, though, so no point thinking about it now. Corsiva, upon arriving in the town, only found that it was deserted. He had taken too much time to walk, they had probably already gotten all the way through the population of Snowdin. He heard somebody coming, and without thinking, assumed that it was the demon, and ducked behind the cover of the trees.

However, he only saw that it was Papyrus, looking a bit more cheerful somehow. Corsiva carefully shifted over to where the Gauntlet of Deadly Terror was kept, and heard Sans talking to the demon at the end of the bridge. He decided to CHECK their stats, though he already knew he wouldn't like what he saw. _**LV: 8/20. EXP: 500. AT: 24. DF: 11. HP: 48/48. A demon, cleverly disguised as a human. A wolf in sheep's clothing.**_ In reality, he knew that the demon was not Frisk, despite it being her body, but Chara. However, he was practically refusing to regard to the demon by their name, that would imply that the demon was like a normal person.

"seems like you're gonna fight my brother pretty soon." Sans said aloud, practically just stating the obvious. With a wink, Sans continued: "here's some friendly advice." He closed his eyes, his voice getting a bit more serious, like he was warning the demon. "if you keep going the way you are now…" Sans' eyes suddenly shot open, his pupils gone, and he spoke in a deadly serious voice, his tone giving off a no nonsense kind of vibe, with what he said next: "you're gonna have a bad time." And in an instant, Sans was gone.

The demon looked over at the direction Snowdin Town was in, finally sensing that she was being watched. But it was pointless. Corsiva had shifted behind the house as soon as Sans left. Corsiva, assuming that Sans would be Shifting into the workshop, decided he would give Sans some space. Instead, he watched the demon as they walked through the town, looking bored. The only person left in the town was Monster Kid, who the demon noticed standing by the tree, and walked over to and talked with them.

"Where is everybody?" They asked, feigning politeness and ignorance. Monster Kid, however, was genuinely polite, ignorant, and innocent.

"Yo, everyone ran away and hid somewhere." The demon frowned, presumably displeased that there wasn't anybody left in Snowdin Town to kill. They wouldn't kill Monster Kid (yet), he hadn't done anything to get on their nerves, or stand in their way. "I haven't even seen Corsiva, the other skeleton brother, at all today. Man, Adults can be so dumb, haha…" The demon faked laughter with Monster Kid, trying to keep up their facade. "Don't they know we've got Undyne to protect us!?" Monster Kid suddenly said, and the demon frowned for a fraction of a second, before covering it up with a sly smile.

"I agree completely." They said to Monster Kid, who grinned. "Well, I'll see you around." They said their goodbyes to Monster Kid, who nodded, before the demon moved to the edge of town, past the house, and towards Waterfall. But, as they passed through the fog, the demon encountered Papyrus once again. Unbeknownst to them, Corsiva had followed behind them ever since they passed his house, and he now watched them converse with Papyrus, feeling paralyzed, and barely noticing that Sans was next to him, watching as well.

"HALT, HUMAN!" Papyrus ordered, which the demon ignored, taking a step forward. "HEY, QUIT MOVING WHILE I'M TALKING TO YOU!" Another step. "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE SOME THINGS TO SAY. FIRST: YOU´RE A FREAKING WEIRDO! NOT ONLY DO YOU NOT LIKE PUZZLES. BUT THE WAY YOU SHAMBLE ABOUT FROM PLACE TO PLACE… THE WAY YOUR HANDS ARE ALWAYS COVERED IN DUSTY POWDER. IT FEELS…" Papyrus was silent, evidentially lost in thought. "LIKE YOUR LIFE IS GOING DOWN A DANGEROUS PATH. HOWEVER! I, PAPYRUS, SEE GREAT POTENTIAL WITHIN YOU!" Papyrus regained some of his showmanship, his bravado. Corsiva watched with utter horror, frozen in place, as he saw Papyrus converse with the very person that would most likely kill him.

"EVERYONE CAN BE A GREAT PERSON IF THEY TRY! AND ME, I HARDLY HAVE TO TRY AT ALL! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!" The demon took another step. "HEY, QUIT MOVING!" Step. "THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!" Step. "HUMAN! I THINK YOU ARE IN NEED OF GUIDANCE! SOMEONE NEEDS TO KEEP YOU ON THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW! BUT WORRY NOT! I, PAPYRUS… WILL GLADLY BE YOUR FRIEND AND TUTOR! I WILL TURN YOUR LIFE RIGHT AROUND!" Step.

"I SEE YOU ARE APPROACHING. ARE YOU OFFERING A HUG OF ACCEPTANCE? WOWIE! MY LESSONS ARE ALREADY WORKING! I, PAPYRUS, WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS!" Corsiva couldn't speak, couldn't look away, couldn't do anything, but watch as the demon took a few steps towards Papyrus, their arms outstretched as if they were giving him a hug, a fake smile on their face, and their knife cleverly held in their left hand so it was hidden behind their own arm. And before Corsiva or Sans could do anything to stop what was about to happen, the demon slashed at Papyrus with their knife, hitting him in the neck, and dealing a fatal blow.

Papyrus staggered backwards a step, shocked, and in considerable pain, as his head came clean off his shoulders and fell into his hand.

"W-WELL, THAT'S NOT WHAT I EXPECTED…" Papyrus started. Suddenly, Papyrus' body turned to dust, leaving only his head and scarf/cape combination laying in the snow. Regardless, Papyrus looked up at the demon, his eyes filled with inspiring hope, and a small trace of sadness.

"BUT... ST... STILL! I BELIEVE IN YOU! YOU CAN DO A LITTLE BETTER! EVEN IF YOU DON'T THINK SO! I... I PROMISE…"

The demon looked down at the head of Papyrus, looking like they were considering something, as Papyrus stared right back at them. Suddenly, the demon lifted their foot into the air slightly, and without warning, brought it down onto Papyrus' head, causing him to flinch and crack, before they put more strength into their stomp, and caused his head to completely cave in on itself, before it turned to dust, and the demon's stats rose once again. Corsiva barely noticed the change, but his subconscious made a description: _**LV: 9/20. EXP: 800. AT: 26. DF: 12. HP: 52/52. Nothing more than a dirty brother killer.**_

Outside of his subconscious, however, Corsiva was horrified. Papyrus was gone. The most innocent, naive, and caring of all of the Monsters in the entire Underground, was dead, leaving just a void in their place. If there was any person in the Underground who didn't deserve that fate, it was Papyrus. Corsiva felt his knees buckle, as he feel down to the ground, feeling nothing but sadness, depression, and grief. Somehow, tears formed in his eye sockets, and fell to the ground. He made a mental note to ask Sans about how that was possible later. It wasn't important now.

As he silently cried to himself, he suddenly realized that Sans was gone. Corsiva stood up, wiping away the tears from his face, and thought of where Sans could be. Eventually, he came to the realization that Sans must be in the workshop. He silently walked around to the back of the house, and entered the workshop. He was greeted with the sight of Sans, leaning against the counter, looking like a part of him had died inside, and staring into a photo album that Corsiva had never seen before.

"what do you want?" Sans asked Corsiva without looking over at his adoptive brother.

"I assumed you wanted to talk to somebody." Sans looked over at Corsiva, closing the photo album with a snap, and glared at him.

"well, you assumed wrong." Sans snapped at him. Corsiva scowled at his brother.

"Oh, my mistake, I'm sorry that you don't feel like caring enough to actually talk about what you're feeling with somebody who could actually have a chance of understanding you, I'll just leave you to your self pitying ways." Corsiva snapped back sarcastically.

Sans glared daggers at Corsiva. "you don't know what i'm going through!" He yelled. "you couldn't understand!"

"Oh, DON'T I?!" Corsiva shouted right back.

"You have no idea how much he meant to me!" Sans' eye sockets went dark as he shouted. Corsiva started glowing red with rage, but he was silent, before he whispered to keep himself calm.

"Do you honestly have any idea how wrong that statement is?" He asked Sans, who froze.

"I lost my parents when I was FIVE. They were murdered- no, they were _assassinated_. I grew up in an orphanage where I was beaten within an inch of my life weekly, neglected by the woman who supposedly, quote on quote, 'cared' for us, and kept from having any friends. My only friend was my two year old sister, who was treated practically the same way, and I lost her, too, when I fell into the Underground at the age of TWELVE.

"Then I met you, and Alphys, and Papyrus, and Undyne, and everybody, and I was given a chance to have a new family, which I took gladly. It didn't matter that our brotherly bond was adoptive, or that you only initially kept me alive because of a promise you made to somebody behind a door, because to me, you and Papyrus BECAME my REAL brothers. I loved you both like brothers, we all treated each other like brothers, we all lived as brothers. And now, when I finally get the chance to meet my Sister again, to talk to my sibling again for the first time in four years, I find out that they aren't as I remembered them, and are all but gone. Essentially, I lost my sister again as soon as I got her back and took a really good look at her.

"And then, this happens. I have essentially lost two siblings in less than a day, and my OTHER sibling is too busy beating themselves up and hiding from their own feelings to actually talk to me about what's wrong, or just talk to ANYBODY in general, so that they can maybe move past what happened. I have experienced all of that, and you'd seriously have the GALL to say that I don't know how you're feeling!?" Sans was silent, staring at Corsiva.

"corsiva…" he started, "bro, i…" Corsiva held a hand up to silence him.

"It doesn't matter if you apologize now, it doesn't matter if you feel any better or worse, what matters is that we can't let that demon get away with what they've done, what they're doing." Sans was still for a few seconds, before he nodded.

"so, what do you propose we do?" He asked Corsiva. Corsiva started pacing, unable to keep still.

"You're too weak to take them on normally, and KR will only help you so much in battle when they're as low on LOVE as they are right now." He started muttering to himself. "I can't face them yet, I want to give them a chance to be better. They still could stop at some point, however unlikely." He thought to himself for a few seconds, before he figured out a plan, and snapped his fingers. "Got it." He said aloud.

"You'll wait for them in the Judgement Hall, you know the one, it's right outside of the Throne Room. If at that point, their LOVE is at 19, and they've killed enough monsters to tell you that they're a threat to both Monsters and Humans, then you'll fight them. Use KR at all moments, and you need to make the first attack. They're used to be the one making the first move when in battles, so it'll catch them off guard. Hold them off for as long as you can. Kill them as many times as possible." Sans nodded, following along.

"and when they come back? when they 'LOAD their SAVE file?'" He asked for clarification.

"Keep killing. Throw them off. Keep them distracted." Corsiva barely paid attention to the fact that Sans knew about the SAVE file, it didn't matter. "I'll try to convince Asgore to absorb the human SOULs while you fight them, and then I'll talk to somebody."

"what about when they eventually kill me?" Sans asked. "they can LOAD their SAVE file as many times as they want, they'll start memorizing my patterns, they'll eventually get past me."

"I said keep them distracted as long as you can. Not forever. I can maintain memories between LOADs, which will help. If they get past you, I'll step in and fight them."

"but won't they eventually get past you, too?" Sans asked. "won't they eventually start seeing your attack patterns?" Corsiva smirked.

"As I said, I maintain my memories between timelines, and you of all people should know how unpredictable I am. I won't repeat myself very often."

"and if they kill you, too?" Corsiva smirked again.

"I might have something prepared for that. I'll be working on it while you fight them. The plan isn't to kill them and keep them there for all of eternity, even though I would be completely capable of doing that. The plan is to get them to give in, break their spirit, make them Reset back to when my Sister first fell into the Underground. If we break their spirit enough, they'll eventually have to give in, and they'll have to give control back to my sister." Sans nodded, his trademark grin coming back.

"it's a pretty solid plan." He complimented. Corsiva gave a fake bow, before Sans left to watch the demon, and Corsiva left to find somebody else.


	33. Determination

"Undyne!" Corsiva shouted for his friend, who immediately turned around and saw him.

"Corsiva?" She asked, seeing his expression, and how distraught he was. She pulled off her helmet, showing Corsiva the concerned look in her eye. "What's wrong?"

"It's Papyrus!" He said, immediately regretting trying to tell her.

"What happened?" Undyne's expression dropped drastically, as she waited, horrified, for the answer to come.

"He tried to… help the demon-no, the brother killer, to be a better person. He said that he believed in them. They… they decapitated him.

"His head was all that was left, the rest of his body had turned to dust. And… and… he said that he still believed in them, that they could do better. They responded by crushing his head with their foot." Undyne stared at Corsiva, feeling a confusing mixture of emotions flooding her body. She was mainly feeling immensely sad at hearing the news about Papyrus, and incredibly concerned for Corsiva's mental stability at the moment.

"How are you holding up?" She asked him.

"Oh, everything is just fucking fine." He snapped. "Everything is just peachy. It's only that my biological sister is being possessed by a psychopathic demon, who's hell bent on genocide and killing every monster in the entire underground, and has already killed one of my adoptive brothers, who was without a doubt the most innocent person down here. How the hell do you think I'm holding up!? I'm trying to keep myself from going into shock and/or falling apart! And it's proving to be a VERY difficult task to manage! But I need to stay calm!" Undyne moved to pat him on the shoulder, maybe even embrace him in a warm hug.

"Look, Corsiva, maybe you should just give yourself time to grieve first." She said, trying to provide helpful advice. "Just be more like Sans for a little bit. Take a break." Corsiva shook his head.

"I can't." He stated, his voice beginning to crack. "The brother killer has already gotten through all of the Ruins and Snowdin. If I take a break now, they might have gotten all the way to Asgore by the time I get back to work. I just need to keep myself calm and occupied." Undyne eyed her friend, still unsure. Eventually, She sighed, giving in.

"Alright." She said. "Well, I just wanted to let you know that Alphys said she would watch me fight the thing, and that she would evacuate the monsters in Hotland if anything went wrong during the fight. She also said she was going to tell Asgore to absorb the human SOULs, so that we have a better chance of stopping this demon." Corsiva nodded, still trying to keep himself calm.

"So Alphys is at her lab, then?" Corsiva asked, to which Undyne nodded in response. "Good. I need to talk to her about something. I'll see you in a bit." He hugged Undyne one last time, holding the embrace for a few seconds, before breaking away, and shifting off to Alphys' lab.

As he appeared, he instantly spotted Alphys at her main computer, typing frantically at the keys.

"Need some help?" He asked her calmly and suddenly, causing her to jump, and turn around to look at him.

"C-corsiva!" She exclaimed upon seeing who it was. She jumped up from her chair, and ran forward to hug him.

"Th-th-thank GOD you're a-alright!" Corsiva half heartedly returned the hug, his expression remaining mostly neutral. "Are you okay?" She asked him after she pulled away. "I-I saw what happened to Papyrus." Corsiva shook his head.

"I'm not okay." He told her. "I don't think I will be to feel okay ever again, at least not for a good while. But, I'm remaining calm." Alphys looked at him, her expression slightly confused. "Right, you don't know everything yet." He muttered to himself, before taking a deep breath. "So, here's the low down of everything that's going on in my life right now. My adoptive brother, who was and is the most innocent monster in this entire underground, is now dead. He was killed by a psychopathic and genocidal demon that is currently possessing my biological sister from the surface.

"Said demon and/or brother killer has managed to get through all of the ruins, all of Snowdin, and is already part way through Waterfall, over the course of like an hour, probably less, meaning they'll probably get all the way to Asgore before the day even reaches twilight if they aren't stopped. Sans is currently watching the demon kill everyone, and waiting for the best time for him to do anything, despite how hurt emotionally he currently is because of how he just lost Papyrus. And I'm very quickly learning that this brother killer that's killing everybody isn't just a threat to monsters, but instead to the entire world, both monsters and humans.

"But if I don't keep myself calm, if I don't stop myself from freaking out, then I've doomed this entire world. The moment I'm not calm anymore is the moment I start acting irrationally. The moment I start acting irrationally is the moment that I stop thinking logically about anything. And the day that happens is the day the world dies. I'm not being melodramatic here, I'm not jumping to that conclusion, I KNOW that is what will happen. I don't know how I know it, but I do. So yeah, I'm not okay, but I'm keeping calm." Alphys stared at Corsiva, her eyes wide.

"Wow." She stated. "Th-that's just… wow. Th-that's a LOT of stuff for you to go through. A-and you're still calm!?" Corsiva shrugged.

"I don't know how I'm so calm, either." He confessed. Alphys shook her head, trying to comprehend it all. "But that's not why I'm here." Corsiva said, getting right to business. "I need to ask something: where's your research on Determination?"

Alphys looked at him. "Wh-What?" She asked. "Wh-why do you want to know THAT?"

"Just tell me, please." Corsiva pleaded. Alphys looked at him for a few seconds, a nervous expression on her face. Eventually, she sighed.

"Take the elevator down." She told him, pointing to a door behind him. "A-all of the D-Determination research is d-down there. Just… j-just be careful. I d-don't know how they'll react to seeing anybody but m-me down there." Corsiva nodded, and walked into the elevator, pressing the button, and descending lower into the Lab.

As the doors opened, he stepped out into the dark Laboratory, feeling a sense of dread flow through him. He let his eyes start glowing yellow, and traversed through the lab. The walls were covered in panels with different entries that Alphys had written while she was originally conducting the Determination experiments. He tried to read through them all, but they were all spread out in random locations, and no single entry seemed to be right next to the one before or after it. As he walked into a room with a bunch of fans, he moved to turn them on and get rid of some of the fog that, for some reason, was everywhere in the lab. Suddenly, he became aware of the fact that he was being watched. He turned around.

"Hello?" He called out. "Alphys, is that you?" No answer came to his ears. He realized that it must be the "they" that Alphys had referred to earlier. "If you don't mind me asking, who exactly are you?" He asked the person watching him. He saw something shift from inside of the darkness. "Look, you can come out, alright? I'm not here to hurt you, or do anything to you for that matter. I… maybe I should introduce myself first. Hi. I'm Corsiva the Skeleton." At the word Skeleton, there was more movement from inside of the darkness.

Slowly, before Corsiva's very eyes, a large, dripping, almost flowing mass of white… something, appeared from out of the darkness. It had a large, black, circular orifice on its face that was opening and closing rapidly (and almost looked like it was dripping something), six legs that seemed to form the outlines of five dogs, and had triangular ears at the top of its head, like a dog.

"Oh my god." Corsiva gasped, staring at the thing. "Are you… is that what… alphys said that the monsters she tested on had melted but… I never imagined…" He eventually regained himself, and cleared his throat. "Are you okay?" He asked the thing, walking forward, and extending his arm. The thing looked at his arm curiously, making strange noises that vaguely resembled the barks the Canine Unit used to make, specifically Greater Dog. After a few seconds, Corsiva sighed.

"Do you want a bone?" He asked the thing that he was now deciding to call the endogeny, as a pun on the phrase endogenous (meaning having an internal cause or origin). Almost immediately, the endogeny started vibrating, and let out a noise that Corsiva assumed was an excited bark.

He summoned a bone and, after making sure that it wouldn't be able to harm the endogeny, threw said bone up towards the thing. The endogeny caught the bone in its… orifice, and brought it back to Corsiva proudly. Corsiva grabbed the bone back from it, and gently pet the thing on its head after beckoning for it. It seemed to be slightly conflicted, as if it wasn't fully wanting to be pet, but the vast majority of the endogeny seemed happy to be pet. Corsiva noticed that, after petting it, a part of it seemed to extend outwards a little bit, and he realized what he was looking at.

"My god…" He started. "You're… you're an amalgamation." The endogeny tilted it's head at him, confused. "No wonder I can't tell what kind of monster you are. You're not one monster, you're multiple monsters that have melted into each other." He looked at the thing, his voice becoming soft. "This is what happens to monsters with determination." He muttered. "This… what happened to you all… it's awful. No wonder Alphys isn't confident in her abilities." Eventually, he backed away, and the endogeny bounced away excitedly, seeming happy.

After regaining his bearings, Corsiva continued to look through the data logs that were spread randomly throughout the lab. He passed a hallway with a single bathtub at the end of it, he passed a room filled with beds, a dog bowl, and fake plants, he passed a room with a tv that strangely resembled Omega Flowey's TV head and five vhs tapes, and he even passed a room with a large machine that looked oddly similar to one of Omega Flowey's heads. Finally, he found three entries that, despite being a good distance away from each other, suited his needs.

The first of the three entries was near another elevator, as well as a large backup generator. He read aloud very quietly, not wanting to disturb any of the other amalgamates that may be in the True Lab with him.

"ENTRY NUMBER 8: I've chosen a candidate. I haven't told ASGORE yet, because I want to surprise him with it... In the center of his garden, there's something special. The first golden flower, that grew before all the others. The flower from the outside world. It appeared just before the queen left. I wonder... What happens when something without a SOUL gains the will to live?" **_So,_** he thought to himself, **_Alphys found a golden flower that had sentimental value, being one of the flowers from the surface, and put determination into it. Makes sense that she'd choose THAT as the vessel, I guess._**

The second entry was inside of a room filled with golden flowers.

"ENTRY NUMBER 10: experiments on the vessel are a failure. it doesn't seem to be any different from the control cases. whatever. they're a hassle to work with anyway. the seeds just stick to you, and won't let go…" **_So Alphys worked on the flower with Determination for a while, before she eventually came to the conclusion that it was a dead end, which she was partially glad about because of how annoying it was to work on._**

Finally, the third entry that he read was right next to the first one, entry 8. This one was much shorter, and all but confirmed Corsiva's suspicions.

"ENTRY NUMBER 18: the flower's gone." **_And, after incorrectly assuming that experiments on the golden flower were a failure, Alphys stopped working on it, and stopped paying attention to it, until she found out that it had mysteriously vanished. So, I guess that maybe her experiments on it weren't totally a failure, even if they didn't exactly have the intended outcome. She was trying to make a vessel to wield the now-stronger, determination enhanced monster SOULs after they died and turned to dust. Instead, she somehow created Frisk's supposed best friend, Papyrus' mysterious flowery friend and confident, and self proclaimed 'god of this world,' Flowey the Flower._**


	34. Pep Talks, One Last Conversation

Corsiva, after taking in all this information, walked back around the True Lab to see if there was anything else important in there that he might have missed. Surprisingly, as he walked towards the main area of the Lab, he heard voices. Not voices like the amalgamates, mind you, where every voice is strangely muffled, or has an echo for some reason, and is interlaced with several other voices, nothing like that at all. Rather, they were completely coherent, completely normal monster's voices.

"What is this place?"

"Like, why did you take us all here, Alphys?"

"Is Mettaton here?"

"E-everybody st-stay calm, alright?" Corsiva recognized the final voice immediately, and walked out to greet her.

"What's up, doc?" He quipped, putting on an imitation that, most likely, none of the monsters in the Underground would recognize. Alphys turned around to look at Corsiva, her expression distraught, her face stained with tears. "Oh no." He stated darkly, realizing what had happened.

"They got past her, huh?" He asked. Alphys nodded quietly.

"Who got past who?" One of the monsters asked, confused. Corsiva looked at the monster, and recognized her as Fuku Fire, Grillby's daughter. Corsiva sighed.

"A little while ago, a human fell into the underground." He started to explain. "They quickly made their way through all of the ruins, then Snowdin, then Waterfall. They're now in Hotland. They haven't gotten this far by being friends with everybody, or through sheer luck. Everywhere they go, a dust trail follows them." Many of the monsters gasped.

"They kill every monster they come across, and even purposefully encounter some of us just so they can kill us all. You're all down here because they killed Undyne, and are now in Hotland, and we need to do our best to preserve our life. If they come into contact with ANY monsters, they will KILL them without hesitation. They're quickly wiping out the entire population of the underground. What's worse, is that with every monster they kill, they get stronger. More powerful. More willing to kill. More capable of killing everybody.

"We can't allow that to happen. So, the most logical solution, of course, is to evacuate. If they can't find any monsters, they can't kill any monsters, and we can live a bit longer. I understand that most of you are probably scared, or confused, but we need to stay calm. Trust Alphys, she knows what she's doing. If we can have faith in her, then we can survive." Silence spread out across the large group of monsters. "Have some hope." Corsiva encouraged them all, putting a small smile onto his face. "We can get through this, I know we can. Just… don't give up hope." He directed his attention to Alphys, putting on a more serious expression as his eyes started glowing red.

"I need to go." He told her. "I have no idea how far they've gotten into Hotland. For all I know, they could be halfway through New Home by now." Alphys nodded, still looking worried. "You can do this." He told her. "You're capable of helping every single monster down here right now. I know you are. It doesn't matter if you think you can or not, or if you don't believe in yourself, because I. Believe. In YOU. Got it?" She nodded, looking a bit more confident. "Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I still have something I need taken care of." And with that, he shifted away, right outside the end of the CORE, and right before the elevator that he, Frisk, and Chara took in another timeline to get up to New Home. He heard voices coming from inside of the room that they fought Mettaton EX in, and walked over to the door, listening in.

"COME ANY CLOSER, AND I'LL BE FORCED TO SHOW YOU... MY TRUE FORM!" He heard Mettaton say, presumably to the demon. After about a second of silence, Corsiva heard a few footsteps, before Mettaton spoke again. "FINE THEN! RRRRREADY? IIIIIIIT'S SHOWTIME!" Suddenly, he heard his speaker start playing a song, one that he recognized as "Power of 'NEO.'" After a few seconds, he heard a sound like a frying pan hitting metal, and the music stopped. Mettaton stuttered out the next words, sounding shocked, and in pain. "GH… GUESS YOU DON'T WANT TO JOIN MY FANCLUB…?" Suddenly, a loud explosion sounded, and a very bright light flooded out of the room, before it slowly died out. He suddenly heard footsteps coming his way, and shifted away, appearing behind the demon, as he checked their stats. **_LV: 19/20. EXP: 50,000. AT: 46. DF: 14. HP: 92/92. The demon is in need of Judgment and Conviction._** He shifted away once more, this time appearing in the Judgement Hall beside Sans.

"The demon got past Undyne." He started, his brother not flinching at Corsiva's sudden appearance. "They got past Mettaton, too. They're on their way to this very hallway as we speak. They just have to get through Asgore's home before they get here. They won't find any monsters to kill there, though, so their current EXP and LV will stay the same. It's the perfect time for you to fight them, Sans. They're at LV 19 now. That's the best LV possible for you; your Karmic Retribution will be perfect against them at this state. Sure, it won't be as effective as possible, because they still haven't reached max LV yet, but it will suffice for now." Sans nodded silently, his pupils dim, yet still visible.

"how are you coming along with your backup plan?" He asked Corsiva, turning slightly to look at him.

"It's going just fine." Corsiva told him. "Just one or two last things to take care of." Sans nodded. "I'd better go warn Asgore." Again, Sans nodded.

"good luck, bro." He said, offering a hug. Corsiva smiled at him, and accepted the embrace.

"You too, Sans." He said. Eventually, the two brothers broke apart, and Corsiva grinned mischievously at his brother, before speaking.

"Show that bitch what it means to have a bad time." He said. Sans grinned back, and nodded one last time, before Corsiva shifted away.

As he appeared outside of the throne room, he walked inside, before he spoke to the King, who was busy watering flowers.

"Asgore!" He said, causing the Boss Monster to jump slightly, before turning around to look at him.

"Corsiva?" Asgore questioned. "What seems to be bothering you?"

"There's a human in the underground." Corsiva stated bluntly. "They've killed everybody they came across, without remorse. They're on their way. You need to absorb the six Human SOULs." Asgore stared at Corsiva for a few seconds, before he sighed.

"Very well." He said. "Thank you for telling me." Corsiva nodded. "You should go, now." Asgore told him. "I don't think that your brothers would wish for you to die." Corsiva nodded again, and wordlessly, he shifted away. He found the exact person he was looking for, huddled in the corner of the room with all of the coffins, shaking; he was clearly crying, possibly from remorse, most likely from their fear, which they didn't even know they could feel anymore. He walked up to him slowly, still not completely sure if this was a good idea, and took a deep breath.

"I need your help."


	35. A Bad Time

At the start of the Judgment Hall, Chara emerged, feeling determined as ever. Even more so than almost any other time, actually. Frisk had long given up on trying to convince Chara to stop the madness and all the killing, and had just fallen into silent despair, their consciousness trapped and buried deep inside of their own SOUL by Chara's doing, so Chara was left to control her body without any distractions or any fighting. For this matter, Chara was slightly happy. Slightly. She examined the knife that she held in her hand, an almost curious look in her blood red eyes. As she did this, with her left hand, she fastened her old heart-shaped locket around her neck, embracing the familiar feeling it brought. Eventually, she gripped her knife firmly, and stepped forward a few steps. She looked around, expecting to see Sans there, when she looked forward. Nothing was still there. She blinked, and as she opened her eyes…

"heya." Sans greeted from the other end of the hallway, his voice echoing out across the room. "you've been busy, huh?" Chara was silent as she listened. "so, i've got a question for ya." Sans closed his eyes. "do you think even the worst person can change…? that everybody can be a good person, if they just try?" Chara, unimpressed and unfazed, stepped forward defiantly. "heh heh heh heh…" Sans chuckled to himself, opening his eyes. "all right." He closed his eyes again. "well, here's a better question." His eyes opened once more, completely black, as he stared threateningly at the demon in front of him.

"do you wanna have a bad time?" He asked, his tone deadly, not an ounce of humor to be heard. "'cause if you take another step forward… you are REALLY not going to like what happens next." He waited for a response from Chara, who stood there for a few seconds in silence, slightly shocked at how dark his tone got. Despite this, she stepped forward. Sans sighed, closing his eyes sadly.

"welp. sorry, old lady. this is why i never make promises." Chara readied her knife, prepared to make the first move, when Sans spoke again.

"it's a beautiful day outside. birds are singing, flowers are blooming…" Sans' skeletal brow furrowed slightly somehow, his eyes still closed. It gave the impression of a person who was glaring, but closing their eyes so they didn't have to see the person they were angry with. "on days like these, kids like you…" Sans' eyes shot open, revealing them to still be that menacing, empty, black glare. When he spoke, his voice was filled with malice and hate. "Should be burning in hell." Suddenly, Sans' left eye flashed a bright cyan, and he slammed his left hand from out of his jacket pocket downwards. Before Chara had a chance to react, her SOUL was instantly turned Blue, and was, along with her entire body slammed quickly into the ground.

Suddenly, Chara felt something like a warning, and she quickly pulled herself up off the ground and jumped into the air, just in time to avoid a large pile of bones that came to impale her. She was barely grazed by a few of them, however, and she immediately felt pain shoot through her entire body. Unlike the other attacks she had grown to know, the bones didn't disappear automatically, and the pain she felt lasted, as if it was eating away at her. Despite this, she tried to dodge through the several other bones that Sans started throwing her way, but was unable to dodge all of them, as few managed to graze her, causing her more pain. Suddenly, before her very eyes, large, skeletal, floating skulls started appearing around her, and before she had a chance to react, they opened their mouths and fired large beams of energy at her, vaporizing her instantly, and shattering her stolen SOUL.

Chara had, luckily enough, SAVEd her place before she went to fight Sans, so, with a quick LOAD, she was back. She walked forward again, and once again, saw Sans at the other end of the Corridor.

"heya." He greeted. "you look frustrated about something." His pupils disappeared again. "guess i'm pretty good at my job, huh?" Sans once again closed his eyes. "it's a beautiful day outside. birds are singing, flowers are blooming… on days like these, kids like you…" This time, Sans didn't finish his monologue, instead resorting to slamming Chara into the ground again. She was, however, prepared for it this time, and dodged the bones that shot up beneath her, as well as the other intricately placed bones that Sans threw at her, then finally maneuvered out of the way of the blasters' firing range.

"huh." Sans said aloud. "always wondered why people never use their strongest attack first." He shrugged to himself.

A new song came up on the speaker from the previous timeline, this one not sounding like anything she would expect to belong to Sans. It was intense, angry sounding, just… different. It was disconcerting. It was at that moment that she realized… _**When did Corsiva manage to get this thing to follow me this time around? I haven't seen him this entire run.**_ She thought about this for half of a second, before she came to her senses.

Chara quickly rushed forward, and slashed at him with her knife, feeling determined to end this. But, to her surprise… Sans dodged it. He just… lazily slid out of the way.

"what? you think i'm just gonna stand there and take it?" He taunted, winking and shrugging, before turning Chara's SOUL Blue, and sending bones her way again. She managed to dodge most of them, barely getting grazed by them a few times, though. As this happened, she felt the burning sensation eat away at her and her HP. Somehow, she knew that her HP was continuing to drop. She wasn't sure how, though. To test it, she cautiously let her hand get touched by one of the bones for only a fraction of a second. She instantly regretted it. As soon as the bone came into contact with her hand, she heard a sizzling sound, and saw something like purple smoke start to form in the spot where the bone touched her skin, and she ripped her hand away instantly. Although it only took away one of her HP on initial contact, she felt it continue to burn, and knew that she was continuing to lose 1 HP every second, losing almost 13 HP before the burning sensation died down. Even though she couldn't CHECK her own Stats, she consciously knew that she now was at 35/92 HP.

Despite this, and despite how Sans had dodged her last attack, she rushed forward again, swinging wildly in his general direction. Sans responded with a wink, and teleported behind her before she could land a hit on him.

"our reports showed a massive anomaly in the timespace continuum." Sans started. "timelines jumping left and right, stopping and starting…" He threw a few more bones her way, combining both white bones and blue bones at a rapid rate. Chara was lucky enough to not get hit by any of them, and threw another attack at him. He rolled his eyes and leaned back into a limbo position, avoiding the blade with ease.

"until suddenly, everything ends." He threw some intricately patterned bones her way, somewhat like the attack he first used when she attacked him, requiring her to jump in very specific places to avoid getting hit. She threw another attack at him, to which he responded by teleporting a few inches to the side.

"heh heh heh…" He started chuckling to himself, his eyes closed. His eyes opened, black once more, and he continued, his voice matching this gaze in levels of threatening, though his grin never left his face. "that's your fault, isn't it?" He threw a few more bones at her, this time applying the use of platforms as well. Chara jumped from platform to platform, until suddenly, bones appeared one of the platforms that she was jumping to, and she was caught by surprise. She smacked into the bones, bringing her HP down even more, and blindly, she jumped from the platform, hoping to reach solid ground. But she jumped too late, and one final bone came into view, landing one final hit on her, and she fell to the ground, lifeless.

Another LOAD later, and she was back.

"hmm." Sans started, his eyes narrowed like he was trying to figure something out as he stared at Chara's face, scratching his nonexistent chin. "that expression…" He suddenly snapped his fingers, and his eyes widened back to their normal size. "that's the expression of someone who's died twice in a row." He said, sounding like he had just figured out some complex equation. Chara scowled at him. "suffice to say, you look really… unsatisfied. all right." His eyes blackened again. "how 'bout we make it a third?" Chara continued to scowl.

"stop me if you've heard this one. it's a beautiful day outside. birds are singing, flowers are blooming… on days like these, kids like you…" Chara once again dodged his attack, this time with a bit more ease. "anyway, as i was saying, it's a nice day out. why not relax and take a load off?" Chara swung her knife at him, and was unfazed when he dodged it, repeating the same dialogue, the same patterns, the same attacks.

Eventually, she got back to where she was, survived the attack that had killed her last time, and attacked him again. This time, he spoke simply, and shortly:

"you can't understand how this feels." He threw more bones at her, again using platforms. This time, Chara was more prepared, and carefully weaved her way through the attacks, avoiding all of the bones that Sans threw her way. She swung at him once more, feeling a bit more confident.

"knowing that one day, without any warning… it's all going to be reset." Sans said sadly, yet his grin remained on his face. He threw more bones at her, this time in a pattern where they were divided into three vertical rows, and sent at her in time with two vertical rows of platforms. She dodged this, and attacked once more, hoping to just outlast him at this point.

"look. i gave up trying to go back a long time ago." He stated mysteriously, before throwing more attacks at her, again with platforms. This time, the bones were in three rows again, aligned horizontally with one another, but they were moving vertically up and down, leaving small gaps here and there. On top of that, as she stood on a floating platform that was moving towards the bones, the solid floor below her was lined with more bullets. She tried her best to weave through the bones, almost succeeding, but getting hit multiple times. Finally, as she jumped through one last gap, prepared to land back on the platform, the platform started moving back in the opposite direction, causing Chara to completely miss it, and fall down onto the bones below, which burned away at her HP rapidly, killing her, and shattering her SOUL once more.

Another LOAD.

"hmm. that expression… that's the expression of someone who's died thrice in a row." There was silent for a few seconds, before Sans spoke again. "hey, what comes after 'thrice,' anyway?" Chara could hear what he was about to say next before he even said it. She therefore, wasn't disappointed when his eyes turned black, and: "wanna help me find out?" He once again closed his eyes, but instead of doing his whole "beautiful day outside" schtick, he just spoke one word.

"ready?" Chara didn't even get to respond, but she dodged the attack with much more ease than beforehand. Sans sighed after she dodged it, readying himself. "here we go." He stated dejectedly, and the pattern repeated. Attack, dodge, attack, dodge. Eventually, Chara reached a new point.

"and getting to the surface doesn't really appeal anymore, either." Sans stated simply. Chara frowned as she dodged the attacks. _**Either?**_ She thought to herself. _**If he wasn't talking about going back to the Surface, what was he trying to go back to?**_ She attacked once more, not fazed when Sans dodged again, and she listened to what he said, only slightly disappointed when he didn't answer her unspoken question.

"cause even if we do… we'll just end up right back here, without any memory of it, right?" She dodged more of Sans' attacks, getting more used to them, and slashed at him. He dodged out of the way again, this time resorting to merely teleporting behind her once more.

"to be blunt… it kind of makes it hard to give it my all." More attacks that Chara dodged, this time feeling a bit nervous. _**This ISN'T everything he has to offer!? I'm barely surviving as is!**_ She swung at the air next to Sans regardless, and he was silent for about a second.

"…or is that just a poor excuse for being lazy…? hell if i know." Sans gave a small shake of his head as he threw attacks, which Chara dodged. Now, it was her turn again. Slice, teleport out of the way.

"all i know is… seeing what comes next… i can't afford not to care anymore." As Chara dodged yet another attack and swung at him one final time, she noticed that Sans was sweating a bit, and looking a bit tired. The music abruptly came to a halt as Sans spoke.

"ugh… that being said… you, uh, really like swinging that thing around, huh?" The music changed, becoming the inspirational tune from the last timeline that she had heard only twice.

"…listen." Sans started. "i know you didn't answer me before, but… somewhere in there, i can feel it. there's a glimmer of a good person inside of you. the memory of someone who once wanted to do the right thing. someone who, in another time, might have even been… a friend?" Chara was silent as she listened, curious as to where he was going with this. She couldn't tell, but Frisk was listening, too, and thinking: _**Is Sans talking about me? Can he tell that I'm trapped in here?**_ "c'mon, buddy. do you remember me? please, if you're listening… let's forget all of this, ok? just lay down your weapon, and…" Sans sighed. "well, my job will be a lot easier."

Chara was thoughtful. On one hand, if Sans was telling the truth, and he was really sparing her, then she could spare him back, and maybe work to be a better person. But on the other hand, if he was lying, this could just be an attempt to kill her once again. But even if it was a trick, he would probably still kill her anyways if she attacked him here and now. What to do…? _**…No. I can't spare him now. I've come too far.**_ Her grip tightened on her knife, and she rushed forward, slashing at him. He slid out of the way again, though this time it looked like it was with a bit more difficulty.

"welp, it was worth a shot." Sans shrugged and winked. His eyes became black once more as he spoke. "guess you like doing things the hard way, huh?"

Suddenly, Chara's world became black for a fraction of a second, and she was in the firing range of some of the blasters from before. She just barely managed to get out of the way, but she was caught in the blast for a half of a second. Then, it all went black again, and she suddenly had several bones coming her way. She dodged those with difficulty, again getting caught by them a bit, and losing even more health. Then it was black again. Then more bone attacks. Then black. As her world returned to color finally, she was once again surrounded by the blasters. But, she didn't move fast enough, and she was disintegrated in their blasts once again, her SOUL shattering once more.

LOAD.

"hmm. that expression… that's the expression of someone who's died quice in a row. quice? frice? welp, won't have to use it again anyways." Fight. Shatter. LOAD.

"hmm. that expression… that's the expression of someone who's died five times in a row. convenient, huh? that's one for each finger. but soon… you'll need a cool mutant hand to count all of your deaths." Fight. Shatter. LOAD.

"hmm. that expression… that's the expression of someone who's died six times in a row. that's the number of fingers on a mutant hand. but soon… you'll need to find a mutant hand with even more fingers." Fight. Shatter. LOAD.

"hmm. that expression… that's the expression of someone who's died seven times in a row. hey, that's good. seven's supposed to be a lucky number. who know, maybe you'll hit the jackpot… and that number will multiply tenfold." Shatter. LOAD.

"hmm. that expression… that's the expression of someone who's died eight times in a row. that's the number of fingers on a spider. but soon… wait, don't spiders have legs?" LOAD.

"hmm. that expression… that's the expression of someone who's died seven times in a row. nope, wait, that's definitely nine, sorry. or was it ten?" LOAD. "hmm. that expression… that's the expression of someone who's died ten times in a row. hey, congrats! the big one-oh! let's invite all your friends over for a big shindig. we can have pie, and hot dogs, and… hmmm… wait. something's not right. you don't have any friends." LOAD.

"hmm. that expression… that's the expression of someone who's died eleven times in a row. well, give or take. there's nuance to this stuff. don't think i'll be able to count very well from here. count for me, ok? we'll start from 12." LOAD.

"let's just get to the point." LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. Over and over, Chara was killed. Getting inches of progress each time, only barely getting better each time. Piecing together more of what Sans had to say every few dozen or so deaths.

"sounds strange, but before all this i was secretly hoping we could be friends. i always thought the anomaly was doing this cause they were unhappy. and when they got what they wanted, they would stop all this." More deaths.

"and maybe all they needed was… i dunno. some good food, some bad laughs, some nice friends." Even more deaths.

"but that's ridiculous, right? yeah, you're the type of person who won't EVER be happy." A bit harsh, but not entirely inaccurate. And EVEN MORE deaths followed. It was frustrating.

"you'll keep consuming timelines over and over, until… well. hey. take it from me, kid. someday… you gotta learn when to QUIT." More death.

"and that day's TODAY." More LOADs.

"cause… y'see… all this fighting is really tiring me out." Getting into the triple digits now.

"and if you keep pushing me… then i'll be forced to use my special attack." Now, Chara was intrigued. Special attack? Despite how infuriatingly difficult it seemed like it would be, she just wanted to see what it looked like. Despite this wish, however, more deaths came.

"yeah, my special attack. sound familiar? well, get ready. cause after the next move, i'm going to use it. so, if you don't want to see it, now would be a good time to die." Chara definitely did just that, a few more (over 200) times. Finally, she managed to swing at Sans one last time, to which he dodged, looking extremely tired, and he spoke, before attacking.

"well, here goes nothing… are you ready? survive THIS and i'll show you my special attack!" And, it came. A large barrage of every single attack Sans could throw at Chara, it seemed. Combining some of the patterns of attacks she had seen before, the gravity manipulation of Blue Magic that had her literally jumping off of the walls to avoid getting impaled by some bones, and finally, and most difficult of all, a large, spiraling, ring of Blasters, that kept rebuilding itself as she tried desperately to avoid them all, only just managing it. After dodging that, she was flung around the room at such high speeds and intensities, that she was surprised she survived at all, until she noticed something. The speed at which Sans was throwing her around was… actually progressively slowing down. When it finally slowed to a stop, she instinctively knew that she was only at 1 HP of 92. Sans was breathing extremely deeply, his forehead covered in sweat.

"huff... puff... all right. that's it. it's time for my special attack. are you ready? here goes nothing." Suddenly, Chara was trapped inside of a cage made of bones, that, when she touched the edges, burned her skin. She waited for the attack to come, for the bones to collapse in on her, for the Blasters to return once again at blast her to smithereens one final time… but nothing came. She just sat in her cage in silence, as Sans just stared at her for a few seconds, also silent.

"yep. that's right. it's literally nothing, and it's not going to be anything, either." Chara was confused for a few seconds, when Sans started chuckling.

"heh heh heh... ya get it? i know i can't beat you. one of your turns... you're just gonna kill me. so, uh. i've decided... it's not gonna BE your turn. ever. i'm just gonna keep having MY turn until you give up. even if it means we have to stand here until the end of time. capiche?" Sans was silent for a few minutes, as Chara tried to figure out what to do.

"you'll get bored here. if you haven't gotten bored already, i mean. and then, you'll finally quit." It was a good plan, thinking about it, and it made sense. Wait for her to get bored, and give up. If she gives up, then she'll probably just Reset, and not do this run again, because of how frustrating it was to get through it the first time. There was just one problem with it, and based on what Sans started by saying after a few minutes of silence, he knew what the problem was, too.

"i know your type. you're, uh, very determined, aren't you? you'll never give up, even if there's, uh... absolutely NO benefit to persevering whatsoever. if i can make that clear. no matter what, you'll just keep going. not out of any desire for good or evil... but just because you think you can. and because you 'can'… you 'have to.'" There was more silence, as Chara put a plan together in her head, and thought it over a few times. And, just like Sans' plan, it seemed like a good one, to her at least.

"but now, you've reached the end. there is nothing left for you here now. so, uh, in my personal opinion… the most 'determined' thing you can do here? is to, uh, completely give up. and…" Sans let out a yawn, his eyes drooping slightly. "do literally anything else." Chara stared at him for a few minutes, and watched as his eyes slowly dropped more, and more, getting closer and closer. Eventually, his eyes shut completely, and, after a few seconds, the only sound in the room was Sans' light snoring. Chara moved quickly, pushing her bone cage towards Sans, readying her knife. She could feel the bones burning at her hands, but she still persisted, pushing it right up to the skeleton himself.

Then, right when she got in range, she sliced at him, only for him to slide away, shrugging and winking.

"heh, didja really think-" With a feeling of extra rage and determination, Chara suddenly snapped. She broke straight through the bones entrapping her, not even giving the burning a sensation a second though, and she slashed straight at the skeleton whilst he was still talking, taking him by surprise. His eyes widened in shock, and for the first and only time that entire battle, her knife made contact with him. He was still standing for a few seconds, before he suddenly collapsed to the ground, sitting mostly upright, a large rip now spread across the front of his jacket and t-shirt.

Finally, it was over. 472 times that she had died and LOADed her SAVE file up until this point, and she finally got lucky, and landed one final hit on Sans. And… it was almost saddening to look at it. As Sans started clutching at his chest, the place her knife had ripped now had blood pouring from it, getting onto Sans' hand, and blood started flowing out of the corner of his skeletal grin, coming down to his chin. He closed his eye sockets, clearly in pain, just shaking slightly for a few seconds, before he opened his sockets again, looked at Chara, then down at his wound, then back at Chara, before finally speaking, sounding a bit more quiet, and defeated not only physically, but emotionally and mentally, too; like somebody who had just completely shut down, given up on life. He just sounded… monotone and emotionless.

"so…" He gasped out. "guess that's it, huh?" He was silent for a few more seconds, before he closed his eye sockets again. "just… don't say i didn't warn you." He slowly, and still shaking slightly, got back to his feet. "welp." He started, still quiet, before giving off his usual wide shrug with a wink. "i'm going to grillby's." He limped away for a few seconds, still looking like he was in immense pain, and getting slower by the second, before he said one last thing aloud.

"papyrus, do you want anything?" And, with that final question to his deceased brother, he stumbled forward slightly, stopped, and fell face forward onto the ground, his entire body turning into nothing but dust as his face touched the now red-stained gold tiling of the hallway. Chara looked at the dust pile for a few seconds, as inside of her own SOUL, Frisk felt incredibly down. Sans had the best chance of anybody to stop Chara. **_If he failed, and Undyne failed, is there anybody who can actually stop her?_** She thought to herself. Well, there was one person that she was forgetting about…


	36. Our Last Hope

"How did it come to this?" A voice echoed out from the other end of the corridor. From inside of her own mind and SOUL, Frisk could tell who the voice belonged to in an instant, and a rush of hope filled her thoughts. Unfortunately for her, Chara recognized the voice, too, and turned back to face where the voice came from.

"Ah, yes." She called out to the figure. "I was wondering when you would finally face me, and accept your fate." Corsiva stepped out from the darkness, wearing only his casual black dress shirt with the delta rune on the back, his black dress shoes, and his black dress pants, staring down at the floor, his face showing no emotion, his eye sockets completely empty.

"My fate is entirely up to me," He responded, expression unmoving, "It does not depend on the whims of a single human. No matter how powerful. Not even if they ARE at LV 20."

"Oh, I don't know about that." Chara mocked, her head tilted to the side. She looked almost curious, and she brandished her knife threateningly. Corsiva barely noticed, or at least if he did notice, he couldn't bring himself to care.

"What? You think that just because you're holding a knife menacingly I'm going to give up?" Chara grinned.

"You'd be surprised how many monsters I just did that and they ran away." She informed him.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you. But I have to say, you're being awfully predictable with your choice of weapon. You always were were fascinated with knives, weren't you Chara?" Chara took a step back, her eyes widened slightly in shock. "Yeah, I know who you really are. You really think I wouldn't recognize that you weren't Frisk? You might have her body, but you don't have her tone, her body language, her morality."

"You're a lot smarter than you look, Corsiva." She noted, regaining her posture. "But you're still an idiot." Her smile returned, but Corsiva didn't care.

"Did you know, I've never actually taken a life." He suddenly started. His head slowly came up to look at Chara as he spoke thus. "I've come close, a few times actually. But I've never actually killed somebody. I couldn't bring myself to do it. It was in part because of my strong sense of morality, but it was also because I had certain… mental blocks in place. As long as at least one of the mental blocks remained, I wouldn't bring myself to kill a person, and my morals would remain intact. These mental blocks were my friends, my family. So I've got a question for you." His band clenched into a fist. "Why?" He was practically whispering now, and was almost shaking with fury. "Why did you kill them all?"

"I have my reasons." Chara responded.

"What reasons could you possibly have for killing every single monster in the underground!?" Corsiva shouted back at her.

"You wouldn't understand." She replied calmly, smirking. Corsiva stared at her for a few seconds.

"You think that anything good will come out of this? Do you really think that you'll achieve something by doing this? NO. You have reached the end. There is NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, left for you now. There is no reward for this, there is no achievement. This isn't a video game, you aren't going to get some cool achievement and some unique ending for doing this. Your Level of Violence mean NOTHING in this world if there's nothing left for you to show it to, nothing left for you to face, nothing that can actually do anything to you." They stood in silence for a little bit longer. "Heh." He eventually started chuckling. The chuckling slowly got louder, until it eventually became laughter. "Heheh. Heheheh! Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Chara stepped back a few steps, slightly frightened of this sudden outbreak of laughter.

"Oh man! I'm sorry, I just… I can't believe that I actually thought that a freak like you would need a reason to do what you did! Besides, it's not like it would even matter if you did tell me." His laughter suddenly stopped. "Even if you did tell me, it wouldn't change what you did. I don't have the words to describe how I'm feeling right now. You have taken EVERYTHING from me. You actually did it. You removed all of my original mental blocks. Undyne, Toriel… Sans… Papyrus… you killed them all." His voice was starting to crack. Tears were starting to form in his eye sockets. "Now, normally, I would slip into a state of depression from something like this happening. But you just couldn't stop yourself, could you? You had to get rid of Frisk, too. I don't care if you killed her, or just took over her body. You as good as killed her, and you got rid of my very last mental block. And, well, like an old friend of mine once said, I can't afford not to care anymore.

"I have given you so many chances to be better. I have lost so many people in my life because of you. But you know what? I'm going to give you one last chance. Reset. Go back, and we'll forget all of this ever happened. Give Frisk back her body. We can just pretend that this never happened. But if you take another step forward, stop me if you've heard this one before, you are REALLY not going to like what happens next." Chara did exactly the opposite of what Corsiva asked her, and stepped forward. Corsiva sighed.

"You never really did listen to me. But I've got one last question for ya. How many times did she ask you to stop? How many times did Frisk plead, beg with you to stop the killing and just Reset?" Chara didn't answer, and they stood in silence for a second. "...And, Frisk, if you're still in there? If you can hear me? If you can feel this?" His eyes flashed a bright red, and in a split second, before Chara even could react, he was in front of her, his arm outstretched, and Cachear going through her skull.

"I'm sorry." He finished in a whisper, and he pulled his Ninjato back out.

Chara immediately fell to the floor, unable to think, unable to breath. She tried to reach out to her food items, only to realize that she had used them all in her fight with Sans. Despite this, there was a tiny bit of good news; she had last SAVEd before defeating him, meaning that she would have another chance at fighting him, and would be a bit more conservative with her food items. And despite what Corsiva asked of her, she was most certainly not going to Reset. She would just have to be more careful. She felt Frisk's SOUL shatter, and the world faded to black around her.

"So that's how it's going to be, huh?" She mumbled before she finally lost consciousness.

One quick LOAD later, Chara was back. She was a bit confused, though. She wasn't back before her fight with Sans, rather, she was back right before her battle with Corsiva again. _**Did I accidentally save?**_ She thought to herself. Suddenly, she heard the shuffling of feet. _**And speaking of Corsiva…**_

"Back so soon, huh?" Corsiva asked her, smirking, as his eyes began to glow yellow. She growled at him slightly, taking a step forward. "You're very eager." He noted sarcastically, a shit-eating grin on his face. "So am I!" Chara prepared herself for the Ninjato to slice through the air, readying herself to dodge it, but it didn't come. Instead, her SOUL was turned green somehow, taking her by surprise, and a barrage of broken bones with sharp and jagged edges swarmed her from all directions. With some difficulty, she managed to block most of them with her knife.

"Hah!" She laughed in triumph at Corsiva, before an unseen Gaster Blaster came from above and completely disintegrated her, body and all.

Another LOAD, and Chara wasn't exactly feeling pleased.

"Wow, you're REALLY bad at this." Corsiva taunted her, his eyes glowing orange, interlaced with red. She tried jumping at him, only for her SOUL to be turned blue whilst in mid air, and her body was flung at the wall. The impact was enough to bring her HP down a good 43 points, and the pile of bones that suddenly appeared was good enough to finish the job. It was like this for a while. Chara would appear, take a step forward, and Corsiva would make the first move, which always killed her. She would LOAD back to her last SAVE point, and they would repeat the process.

"You really like dying, huh?" Corsiva asked 3647 kills in, a grin on his face. "You know, what I said before, about Resetting I mean, it still holds true. All you have to do is just Reset, and this will all be over." Chara snarled, and leaped at him, swinging her blade as she did. Corsiva dodged all of the attacks with ease, barely even pushing himself.

"I guess you don't really care, huh?" He asked her. "Welp, like an old friend of mine, I'm not just going to stand there and take it." Chara prepared herself for his attack, and was surprised when she felt that her entire body was burning. She looked around, and found that her entire body was covered in orange bones. She immediately jumped back, and the pain stopped.

A faint memory popped into Frisk's head about a phone call she got from Alphys: Move through Orange, stay still for Blue. Chara apparently wasn't listening at the time, and was curious about the bones for a few seconds. Eventually, her common sense returned, and she saw that her HP was low. Not good. And it was still going down despite not touching the bones anymore. Even worse. It looked like Corsiva could attack her the same way that Sans could. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, though mainly Frisk's mind seeing as it was HER SOUL and body after all, she was shown images flashing to and fro, back and forth, of all of the monsters she had killed. Haunting her, killing her, consuming her.

"KARMA's a bitch, isn't it?" Corsiva asked jokingly. "Wait. No. That's you. My bad."

"What are you talking about?" Chara asked him, continuing to attack, but surprised that she actually managed to make it this far. "Why does that still hurt?" Corsiva continued to dodge the attacks, almost lazily even, and answered her questions.

"I have the ability to inflict extra damage with my attacks that occur after the initial attack, and keep my attacks from disappearing after they come into contact with you. It works in the way that my attacks remove an extra so called 'Invincibility Frame,' which is essentially that if you get hit by an attack, the attack disappears and you can't take any damage for a few seconds, and the attacks drain your HP down more in a certain amount of time the longer the attack touches your SOUL. Call it 'KARMIC RETRIBUTION.'"

Chara had mostly tuned Corsiva out while he gave his explanation, too focused on dodging and blocking, though she was having a difficult time. Corsiva hadn't even made it to his third attack, and she was already down to 3 HP of 99. One more hit would kill her, and it was only by luck that she had made it this far. She slashed quickly through the air, more of a desperate attempt than anything else at this point. Corsiva dodged the attack, then suddenly stopped.

"You know what? Here's what I'm going to do. I'll give you ONE free hit. After that, you're not hitting me again. So come on. Give it all you got, 'cause you're not going to get another chance!" Chara seized her opportunity, and jumped at him, slashing with all of her might.

The swing wasn't in the least bit surprising. The actual blow itself, however, surprised Corsiva slightly. He staggered back slightly, his eyes not glowing red, or yellow, or any normal color. They were glowing white, as they had so many times beforehand this timeline, and as usual, it wasn't like his white pupils that he could manifest inside of his eye sockets. They were glowing, for one thing. He viewed his stats. The demon had brought his HP all the way down to 1. He looked down at his chest. His nice shirt was torn, revealing his ribcage behind it, and he was bleeding.

"Well…" He started, coughing up blood, "I guess that's the end of that, huh?" He chuckled for a few seconds, before falling to his knees. "You actually did it. You killed me. Good on you, I suppose. You sure as hell took your sweet time." He chuckled again, feeling his HP slowly draw towards zero. "I guess… that's it then. You'll just go right on past this, and kill Asgore. Maybe you'll even cross the barrier, and kill the rest of humankind, too. I don't know." He started laughing harder, despite the severity of the situation. "Well, I hope you're satisfied." Chara was grinning once again. She felt lucky, though.

"It was stupid for me to think that I would ever be able to stop you, I suppose. If Undyne couldn't, and Sans couldn't either, then what could I do?" Corsiva finished, as his laughter reached an all time high, before suddenly stopping, as his SOUL shattered, and his body turned to dust. Chara started moving past the pile of dust on the ground… And then she was back at the end of the corridor again. She looked down at her hands, confused. She wasn't covered in her own blood anymore, and her hands weren't bruised.

"Well, I guess I could do THAT." Came a voice, and Chara looked forward in horror to see Corsiva standing there again, looking just as whole as ever. "Like I said, I hope you're satisfied. Because this is how it's going to be from now on. Killing each other. Over. And over. And over again, forever. Because I'm not going to let you get past. And it'll never change, not until one of us Resets this all, and I know that you're never going to do that. Welp, better get comfortable. You won't get tired of seeing this Judgement Hall, will you?"

Chara was flabbergasted that anybody else had the same determination as her. When she finally came to her senses, she was surrounded by bones and Gaster Blasters, leaving no room to escape.

"Aww shit." She exclaimed aloud. Corsiva winked.

"Language." All at once, Chara was blasted, impaled, and smacked, giving her a quick, but excruciatingly painful death.

When she woke up in the void, a distant sounding voice called out to her, as it always did. This time, however, it was not Asgore who spoke.

"Do you see now?" Corsiva asked her, his voice imposing and intimidating. "Do you now see how pointless it is that you continue to struggle? That you continue to come back? Nothing lasts in this world. If you want to win… you'll just have to go back. Spend some more time in the void this time, and think about what you've done."

Chara rolled her eyes, and attempted to reach out for her SAVE file. Nothing happened. She reached out again, and still, nothing happened. She couldn't access the SAVE Screen. She tried to walk forward, see what was going on, only to find that she hit an invisible wall. She pushed her hands out in opposite directions. She was trapped inside of an invisible box. Corsiva appeared before her, wearing his usual clothes, his hands in his pockets. It was a very Sans-like pose.

"You have become blinded by your own power, Chara." He stated, his eyes manifesting their usual pupils. "Your thirst for it is unhealthy. Your ego has grown so much, you can't see your own hands, covered in blood in dust. Too much power has been the undoing of many before you, some of them much wiser than you. I ask you here and now, give it up. Fighting won't get you any further." Chara glared at him, and turned her back to him.

"I don't know why I'm even talking to you. You won't answer any of my questions, you won't pay respect to my requests. You may be a demon, but you're still just a naive child. I grew up after my fall; I changed. You remained the same. I suppose that's the difference between us, isn't it?" Corsiva turned around, and started to walk away from her.

"You asked me what my reasonings are in doing this, earlier." Chara suddenly started, making Corsiva stop in his tracks. "Of all of the people I've encountered in the underground, you were the only one who remained unpredictable. I would've expected Sans to be the type of person to ask my reasoning, yet that wasn't true. You were the only person who actually asked, genuinely asked, why I did what I did. Why?" Corsiva turned back around slightly.

"I want to understand you." He responded. "I want to better understand you, as well as your thought process. Understanding the problem is the first step to fixing it."

"You think I'm a problem."

"I think what you're doing, what you've done, is the problem."

"You think I was the one who started the killing?"

"That's not the point."

"I only gave Frisk the idea. She was too weak, too foolish to continue it after we killed Toriel. She wanted to go back, Reset. Fix things. But she was the one who started killing them all. Did you ever think about that, you idiot?" Corsiva shrugged.

"I don't know. At this point, it doesn't even matter who started it in the first place. You were the one who started taking control as it continued."

"Now it's you who's missing the point."

"Am I?" Chara scoffed at the argument.

"This bickering is getting us nowhere. The point is, I didn't start the killing. Frisk did. I didn't think they'd actually follow through with it, if I'm being honest. But after the ruins, I took charge. She was going to go back. I couldn't let that happen. We needed to see it through. We still do."

"You say that you only gave them the idea for the killing. Where did you get it?"

"You wouldn't understand. But I have a question for you. Do you honestly think that you can help me? Help Frisk?" Corsiva stared at her. His expression unwavering, his eyes constantly changing colors, switching between all of the colors of human SOUL traits, before settling on a pure red color.

"I used to believe that anybody could change, if they really wanted to. They might have needed some help changing, but they could eventually do it. I seem to have lost some of my faith recently." A silence spread between the two of them. "But I'm sure that I could manage to find it in myself again."

"If I tell you why I'm doing this, will you forgive me?" Chara asked, her voice soft, expression somber. "Will you forgive Frisk?" Corsiva just looked at her, before his mouth curled into a small smile, and his eyes started glowing green; the color for happiness and contentment.

"I already have." Was his response. Chara stared at him thoughtfully. "You just need to learn to accept it." A few more seconds in silence.

"I didn't want to get Frisk to start killing monsters." She suddenly whispered frantically, looking around at her surroundings worriedly. "But I didn't have a choice." Corsiva squinted at her, confused, as his eyes returned to a red color.

"What do you mean?" He asked, sounding slightly suspicious, and he tilted his head.

"You need to get out of here. There is something much more dangerous than me, more dangerous than you, more dangerous than any of us." His eyes widened slightly. "This thing is an unstoppable demon, and a danger to us all with the power they have. I don't know if we can even stop it."

" **O̸F̵ ̶C̸O̴U̴R̴S̵E̵ ̵Y̷O̴U̶ ̶C̸A̵N̷'̶T̸.̸** " A terrifying, booming, demonic voice echoed out through the void. " **Y̶O̵U̵ ̵I̶N̴S̶I̷G̸N̸I̷F̷I̵C̴A̸N̷T̶ ̷M̵O̶R̵S̸E̴L̶S̷ ̵A̸R̷E̷ ̷L̷I̶K̶E̷ ̴A̸N̶T̶S̴ ̸T̴O̷ ̷M̷E̴.̶ ̸P̵O̵W̸E̶R̸L̴E̴S̷S̷ ̷A̷N̶D̵ ̴A̷N̴N̵O̶Y̷I̶N̸G̴.̶ ̴I̵ ̸H̸O̴P̸E̴D̸ ̸T̵H̵A̸T̵ ̸Y̵O̶U̴ ̷W̷O̸U̵L̷D̷ ̸K̸E̵E̸P̴ ̵T̷O̷ ̴Y̶O̷U̵R̵ ̵P̶R̴O̸M̶I̴S̶E̴,̵ ̸C̵H̴A̵R̴A̴.̷** "

A demonic figure appeared through the mist. Their body wasn't fully physical, seemed to be more of a liquid than anything else, and it appeared to be constantly flowing, almost like the monsters Corsiva had encountered down in the True Lab. The most terrifying thing, though, was the head, which appeared to be the broken skull of some kind of animal, somewhat resembling a Gaster Blaster, as well as the other broken bones, skulls, and blasters scattered throughout the black ooze.

" **I̸ ̷H̸A̷D̷ ̴H̷O̶P̵E̸D̴ ̶T̸H̷A̵T̴ ̴I̸ ̷W̶O̶U̶L̵D̶ ̷N̵O̸T̴ ̸H̵A̷V̶E̸ ̷T̴O̶ ̵S̵H̶O̴W̸ ̶M̷Y̵S̷E̷L̸F̵ ̸A̶G̸A̴I̴N̵.̸ ̴P̶E̸R̵H̸A̵P̷S̵ ̶Y̸O̷U̵ ̸W̴O̶U̶L̷D̶ ̶B̶E̶ ̵W̶I̴S̷E̴ ̴F̵O̸R̷ ̵O̴N̸C̶E̵ ̶I̵N̸ ̷Y̴O̵U̷R̸ ̵L̸I̷F̶E̴.̸ ̶B̴U̷T̵ ̵A̶L̷A̶S̸,̴ ̴Y̴O̷U̸ ̸R̵E̶M̵A̴I̵N̵ ̶A̵S̷ ̸I̶D̶I̵O̶T̶I̴C̵ ̵A̷S̵ ̷E̷V̵E̵R̶.̷ ̵A̷S̸K̶I̵N̷G̶ ̸F̷O̷R̵ ̷F̸O̷R̶G̸I̷V̴E̷N̶E̷S̶S̶?̷ ̸C̶A̶L̷L̶I̵N̴G̷ ̵F̴O̸R̷ ̵H̸E̷L̴P̵?̵ ̸Y̴O̸U̴ ̷S̸H̷O̵U̴L̸D̴ ̵K̵N̴O̶W̸ ̶T̸H̸A̸T̷ ̴Y̶O̷U̶ ̷H̴A̴V̶E̶ ̵N̵O̴ ̴C̸H̸O̷I̸C̸E̴ ̸I̶N̷ ̷T̶H̵I̸S̶ ̴W̷H̷A̸T̵S̴O̸E̵V̷E̴R̶.̵ ̵I̴ ̴C̷O̶N̸T̶R̷O̴L̸ ̷T̴H̷I̵S̸ ̸W̸O̶R̴L̵D̵,̶ ̴A̶N̵D̸ ̷I̸ ̸C̴O̵N̵T̵R̸O̸L̴ ̷Y̵O̶U̸.̸ ̷T̷H̷E̷R̸E̴'̸S̸ ̵N̴O̸ ̷P̸O̷I̷N̷T̵ ̷I̷N̸ ̴T̶R̶Y̷I̷N̴G̷ ̶T̶O̷ ̴F̴I̵G̸H̷T̷ ̵M̸E̷.̷ ̷T̶H̶E̶R̴E̷ ̴I̴S̸ ̴N̶O̸ ̴H̶O̵P̶E̶ ̷T̸H̸A̶T̶ ̷Y̴O̴U̶ ̶C̷A̴N̵ ̸W̴I̸N̶.̵ ̸S̵O̴ ̸W̶H̷Y̶ ̶B̶O̸T̸H̷E̸R̴?̸** "

"Fuck, that's irritating." Corsiva swore, sighing. "And here I always thought that it would be so cliche that it would be funny to hear a Super Villain do their stupid elongated monologue. Guess now I know that I was wrong for once. Maybe cliches should be kept out of fan fictions. What do you think, reader?" Okay, so we're breaking the fourth wall now? "Yes, we're breaking the fourth wall now." Even though this is only the first story in the saga, and there has been practically zero evidence to show that you would know how to do this? "Does it really matter? Look at Deadpool, he breaks the fourth wall all the time, and there is absolutely no reason for him being able to do it either." Just- just forget it. Please don't do this again. "No promises." … Whatever. Moving on.

Corsiva took a deep breath, and closed his eyes, preparing himself for what was to come. As he opened his eyes, he felt them start burning red, interlaced with purple and yellow.

"There's always hope." Corsiva said to the thing, his tone defiant, his body language brave. "The future isn't set in stone, especially in a world where time travel exists." The thing turned to face him.

" **A̵H̶,̵ ̴C̵O̶R̵S̶I̷V̵A̴ ̵T̷H̵E̴ ̴S̷K̵E̷L̷E̴T̷O̷N̴.̶ ̷A̸ ̸H̴U̴M̶A̵N̸ ̴I̷N̶ ̸A̴ ̴M̶O̸N̵S̸T̸E̶R̵'̵S̵ ̶B̵O̸D̵Y̴.̷ ̵I̴ ̵W̷A̸S̸ ̸H̸O̶P̷I̴N̷G̸ ̶W̸E̶ ̸W̴O̶U̷L̶D̶ ̵M̵E̷E̷T̴ ̵S̶O̶M̷E̸T̵I̸M̸E̶ ̴S̷O̴O̶N̵.̴ ̸D̵O̸C̸T̶O̸R̴ ̶G̴A̷S̸T̸E̶R̸ ̵H̸O̸L̶D̶S̶ ̶Y̶O̸U̵ ̴I̶N̷ ̶H̸I̵G̷H̸ ̵R̵E̴G̵A̵R̴D̶,̷ ̴Y̷O̶U̴ ̷K̵N̶O̸W̷.̴** "

"Cut the small-talk shit, dumbass. Who are you?"

" **O̷H̶?̴ ̵I̵ ̴W̸A̶S̸ ̶U̸N̵D̴E̷R̶ ̴T̶H̵E̴ ̷I̵M̷P̴R̷E̶S̶S̵I̷O̶N̶ ̴T̸H̶A̵T̷ ̶Y̴O̴U̷ ̴P̶R̸I̸O̴R̸I̵T̸I̵Z̸E̸D̸ ̴T̸A̶L̵K̵I̷N̶G̴ ̷T̵H̶R̵O̸U̷G̴H̸ ̶Y̶O̵U̷R̴ ̷I̵S̴S̵U̷E̶S̵ ̴O̶V̵E̶R̸ ̷F̷I̸G̵H̸T̴I̵N̷G̵ ̵T̶H̴E̸M̷.̸** "

"That died when everybody else did, you deranged, insensitive, demonic son of a bitch. Now who are you?"

" **A̴N̷D̷ ̷S̴U̶C̵H̶ ̷V̴U̴L̶G̶A̵R̴ ̶L̵A̵N̵G̶U̸A̷G̵E̵,̷ ̵T̸O̵O̶.̵ ̶I̶ ̶T̸H̵O̶U̵G̷H̷T̷ ̶Y̷O̶U̷ ̵N̷E̷V̴E̷R̷ ̴S̶P̴E̵A̶K̸ ̴T̵H̵E̴S̷E̸ ̷F̷O̴U̷L̷ ̵S̶W̵E̶A̵R̸ ̴W̵O̷R̷D̴S̵?̴** "

"Only when I'm around Papyrus or Frisk, but seeing as neither of them are here right now, my vocabulary is whatever I damn please, completely uncensored. Now, I think that you still haven't answered my question, so I'll ask it again; WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

If the thing could have smiled, Corsiva was certain it would be wearing an evil, demonic grin at that moment.

" **M̴Y̸ ̶I̵D̵E̴N̵T̵I̷T̷Y̶ ̴D̷O̸E̷S̴ ̴N̸O̷T̷ ̵M̴A̷T̶T̵E̶R̴;̴ ̴I̶ ̷A̵M̷ ̶N̷O̵T̶ ̴L̴I̴N̴E̶A̵R̷,̴ ̶N̸O̴R̷ ̵H̴A̴V̵E̵ ̸I̴ ̶E̶V̵E̷R̶ ̶B̷E̶E̷N̶ ̴L̴I̶N̷E̶A̶R̶.̵ ̶T̶O̵ ̷G̶I̵V̸E̶ ̷M̸E̷ ̴A̶ ̵N̸A̶M̸E̶ ̷W̸O̷U̶L̵D̸ ̵B̷E̴ ̵T̵O̷ ̵S̶A̸Y̴ ̸T̶H̶A̶T̶ ̷I̸ ̶O̴N̵C̷E̴ ̶E̴X̸I̸S̴T̸E̴D̵ ̵A̴T̵ ̴A̶L̷L̴.̸ ̵B̶U̸T̷ ̶I̵ ̸H̸A̸V̷E̷ ̴T̴O̷ ̷A̶S̷K̶;̵ ̵W̴H̸A̴T̴ ̸M̴A̶K̶E̸S̵ ̶Y̶O̸U̴ ̵T̸H̶I̸N̷K̸ ̷Y̶O̶U̶ ̷A̵R̵E̸ ̶S̵O̸ ̷S̴P̶E̸C̷I̴A̸L̴?̶** "

"My SOUL. It's unlike any other SOUL to ever have existed; a cross between human and monster, rather than a combination through absorption of the SOUL."

" **Y̶E̷S̶,̴ ̴E̸X̴A̶C̸T̵L̸Y̸;̶ ̵Y̷O̶U̴R̷ ̸S̶O̷U̷L̷ ̷I̵S̴ ̴Q̷U̶I̸T̶E̴ ̷U̶N̶I̸Q̴U̴E̸.̷ ̷B̷U̷T̷ ̴W̵H̸Y̵ ̴D̶O̶ ̶Y̵O̸U̸ ̴T̸H̷I̶N̶K̵ ̸T̸H̷A̸T̷ ̸Y̶O̵U̸R̵ ̷S̷O̵U̸L̸ ̷B̶E̵C̸A̸M̵E̷ ̴T̶H̵E̷ ̷W̷A̶Y̸ ̴I̴T̴ ̴I̵S̴ ̷N̴O̶W̸?̵ ̸W̷H̴A̴T̸ ̵D̴O̷ ̷Y̴O̶U̸ ̵T̷H̵I̸N̷K̵ ̷C̷A̷U̴S̵E̵D̷ ̶T̷H̶A̸T̸?̷** "

"The machine… malfunctioned… no, it couldn't have malfunctioned, our measurements were too precise, our calculations too accurate…" Corsiva thought for a few seconds, before it finally hit him. "...It was you, wasn't it?" He asked, his eyes burning bright red, no longer showing any traces of any other colors.

" **S̸O̵ ̸Y̸O̵U̷ ̵F̴I̷N̴A̷L̷L̸Y̶ ̷F̷I̵G̷U̴R̵E̶D̴ ̶I̵T̴ ̸O̵U̸T̶.̵ ̵N̸O̶T̵H̴I̷N̵G̴ ̴H̸A̴P̸P̶E̸N̶S̶ ̴B̸Y̴ ̷R̸A̷N̴D̷O̶M̴ ̷C̷H̵A̷N̵C̵E̶ ̸I̶N̷ ̸T̸H̶I̸S̷ ̸W̴O̶R̷L̴D̴,̶ ̶I̴N̷ ̸T̶H̴I̴S̴ ̴U̸N̴I̸V̷E̴R̶S̵E̴.̷ ̸A̶ ̸P̷E̵R̶S̶O̷N̶ ̴L̵I̴K̷E̵ ̸Y̸O̴U̴R̴S̸E̸L̵F̶ ̵S̸H̴O̶U̶L̸D̶ ̵H̶A̷V̸E̶ ̵R̵E̶A̷L̸I̵Z̴E̴D̶ ̸T̷H̶A̸T̸ ̷L̴O̸N̵G̸ ̵A̵G̸O̵.̸ ̶I̶ ̸C̸A̶U̸S̵E̴D̷ ̸T̸H̵E̵ ̷A̴N̶O̷M̸A̷L̶Y̸ ̸I̵N̵ ̴T̸H̴E̵ ̴M̷A̸C̵H̸I̶N̶E̴,̵ ̵M̷A̴K̶I̸N̸G̵ ̶I̵T̸ ̷E̶X̸P̸L̶O̷D̵E̴ ̶E̵N̸E̸R̶G̷Y̶,̵ ̷A̶N̵D̶ ̶T̶R̴A̸N̴S̵F̵E̸R̴R̸I̴N̸G̵ ̶S̶O̷M̵E̷ ̵O̸F̵ ̷T̸H̵A̵T̵ ̸E̴N̸E̸R̴G̵Y̵ ̶I̴N̸T̵O̵ ̸Y̶O̵U̶R̷ ̶S̴O̵U̴L̷ ̵A̴S̵ ̷Y̷O̴U̸R̴ ̴B̶O̴D̴Y̴ ̷T̶R̸I̶E̴D̵ ̵T̷O̴ ̷C̴O̶U̷N̶T̶E̴R̶A̴C̵T̴ ̵T̴H̸E̸ ̸N̷E̸W̵L̶Y̵ ̵A̸C̴Q̸U̵I̷R̸E̴D̷ ̸H̶I̴G̸H̴ ̴A̷M̸O̴U̶N̷T̴S̸ ̶O̴F̶ ̴P̴O̷W̵E̸R̵ ̷I̶N̸ ̵Y̵O̵U̵R̷ ̴S̵O̵U̷L̵ ̷B̸Y̷ ̴E̸I̸T̷H̸E̶R̶ ̴A̷;̶ ̸R̶E̷M̸O̶V̷I̴N̸G̶ ̵S̷O̴M̴E̴ ̶O̵F̴ ̸Y̷O̸U̸R̷ ̵P̸H̴Y̸S̵I̴C̶A̸L̶ ̴M̴A̴T̵T̴E̷R̷,̶ ̷O̸R̷ ̷B̶;̵ ̵C̸H̶A̸N̵G̷I̵N̸G̷ ̸Y̶O̷U̵R̵ ̵E̸S̶S̴E̸N̵C̸E̸ ̵T̵O̴ ̸M̴A̸T̶C̸H̸ ̴S̸O̸M̶E̶T̸H̸I̷N̸G̸ ̷T̴H̶A̸T̸ ̵C̷O̶U̴L̴D̵ ̵B̸E̸T̸T̶E̷R̶ ̴W̵I̴T̷H̶S̴T̶A̸N̶D̵ ̸E̶X̴T̶R̸A̷ ̸A̸M̸O̶U̸N̴T̵S̴ ̸O̵F̸ ̷P̷O̷W̵E̷R̷.̸**

"̴ **T̶H̵O̶S̴E̷ ̶W̶I̵T̶H̸ ̴M̷O̶N̸S̴T̸E̶R̷ ̷E̵S̵S̶E̷N̷C̴E̵ ̶A̶R̷E̵ ̴M̷O̴R̸E̸ ̸C̵A̶P̸A̶B̵L̴E̶ ̴O̴F̷ ̴W̶I̵T̶H̶S̵T̸A̷N̴D̴I̴N̵G̵ ̶H̷I̶G̴H̴ ̵A̸M̵O̵U̴N̶T̷S̸ ̴O̸F̸ ̷P̶O̷W̵E̶R̸,̵ ̷H̵I̷G̸H̸ ̸A̷M̴O̷U̸N̸T̶S̷ ̸O̶F̶ ̴E̸N̷E̷R̶G̴Y̸,̶ ̴A̵N̷D̵ ̵S̸K̶E̴L̸E̴T̸O̸N̸S̶ ̸D̷O̷N̴'̸T̴ ̸H̶A̶V̷E̴ ̸M̸U̴C̶H̶ ̸P̷H̴Y̴S̸I̵C̷A̶L̶ ̷M̶A̴T̷T̴E̴R̸ ̶O̵N̴ ̷T̸H̷E̸M̴,̴ ̶S̷O̴ ̴Y̸O̵U̴R̴ ̷B̸O̴D̷Y̶ ̴B̷E̷C̷A̶M̷E̷ ̷C̸O̸N̵F̵U̴S̷E̸D̵,̵ ̵A̸N̵D̵ ̸D̶I̸D̵ ̸B̵O̸T̶H̸.̷ ̷A̶S̴ ̶Y̴O̷U̶ ̵R̶E̵M̶O̵V̴E̴D̸ ̵M̶O̸R̴E̷ ̷P̵H̷Y̷S̶I̸C̶A̵L̷ ̷M̴A̷T̷T̵E̴R̵,̵ ̷Y̷O̵U̷R̴ ̴E̸S̵S̷E̸N̸C̶E̸ ̶W̵A̶S̵ ̵F̵U̷R̷T̷H̴E̴R̵ ̸C̷H̶A̸N̴G̷E̷D̸ ̴T̷O̸ ̷M̸A̵T̴C̴H̸ ̸T̸H̸A̴T̶ ̷O̷F̷ ̴A̸ ̷M̷A̷G̷I̶C̴ ̷S̷K̸E̷L̸E̶T̷O̴N̵ ̵T̶Y̵P̸E̶ ̴M̴O̷N̷S̶T̷E̸R̶,̸ ̴U̷N̷T̷I̴L̷ ̵E̶V̴E̷N̴T̶U̸A̷L̴L̸Y̷,̶ ̷Y̴O̸U̵ ̶W̷E̸R̸E̵ ̵F̷U̴L̴L̷Y̶ ̷C̸A̷P̴A̶B̸L̴E̶ ̶O̵F̷ ̷A̴B̵S̵O̸R̴B̴I̴N̸G̴,̶ ̵H̴O̸L̵D̸I̶N̶G̸,̵ ̵A̴N̴D̷ ̷W̷I̶T̵H̵S̷T̴A̸N̵D̶I̵N̸G̴ ̷A̸N̷Y̵ ̷A̸M̴O̸U̷N̴T̶ ̴O̴F̶ ̶E̶N̷E̴R̵G̶Y̵ ̸O̶R̶ ̵P̸O̵W̴E̴R̷.̷ ̴I̵N̶ ̷T̴H̶E̸O̵R̸Y̸,̷ ̶Y̵O̵U̴R̴ ̵P̸O̸W̴E̸R̵,̷ ̷Y̶O̶U̷R̶ ̶P̶O̷T̷E̵N̴T̵I̶A̶L̸,̸ ̸I̴T̸ ̷A̶L̸L̸ ̴B̷E̵C̷A̷M̴E̶ ̶L̸I̵M̵I̵T̸L̵E̶S̷S̸ ̸B̴E̸C̵A̶U̵S̸E̸ ̵O̴F̵ ̶M̶E̷,̵ ̴B̵E̷C̶A̵U̵S̷E̸ ̶O̸F̸ ̵W̴H̵A̴T̶ ̴I̵ ̴D̸I̷D̶.** "

Corsiva sank down to his knees, taking in all of the information.

"For what?" He eventually asked. "Why would you do that?"

" **B̴E̵C̶A̷U̵S̴E̴ ̵I̶ ̶N̴E̵E̸D̶ ̵A̶ ̷V̴E̷S̶S̴E̶L̵.̶ ̶S̷O̵M̸E̸O̸N̸E̶ ̵O̸R̵ ̵S̴O̶M̶E̷T̴H̵I̸N̵G̷ ̸C̵A̵P̸A̴B̷L̷E̷ ̷O̴F̴ ̶H̴O̶L̷D̶I̴N̶G̶ ̶M̶Y̴ ̴S̸P̷I̷R̵I̴T̸,̸ ̷M̶Y̸ ̷P̷O̴W̶E̴R̵.̴ ̵S̶O̵M̷E̶T̶H̸I̴N̴G̴ ̸T̸H̴A̶T̶ ̸I̶ ̴W̸O̴U̵L̶D̷ ̶T̶H̵E̷N̴ ̸P̸O̶S̸S̶E̸S̸S̴,̴ ̸A̸N̶D̴ ̷T̵A̷K̴E̷ ̷T̸O̶ ̶T̵H̸E̸ ̷P̷H̸Y̷S̵I̷C̵A̶L̷ ̶W̷O̴R̶L̷D̸,̷ ̸S̸O̵ ̶T̵H̶A̵T̸ ̷I̸ ̷C̴O̶U̴L̴D̶ ̵C̵A̶R̵R̴Y̸ ̶O̵U̸T̸ ̴A̵N̷Y̵ ̵O̴N̷E̸ ̴O̵F̸ ̴M̵Y̵ ̸P̵L̸A̴N̷S̷ ̶W̵I̷T̸H̶ ̷N̵O̸ ̴C̸O̸N̸S̷E̶Q̷U̴E̷N̴C̶E̴.̵ ̶N̷O̷T̸H̷I̴N̶G̴ ̸C̶O̴U̶L̶D̷ ̶S̷T̶A̶N̵D̸ ̶I̸N̷ ̶M̸Y̸ ̵W̶A̸Y̶;̷ ̵N̶O̷T̸H̴I̷N̵G̵ ̶C̸O̵U̸L̵D̷ ̵S̸T̸A̶N̶D̸ ̴I̵N̷ ̷O̶U̴R̵ ̷W̵A̶Y̷.̴ ̴W̴E̴ ̴W̷O̷U̸L̵D̸ ̶G̸O̵ ̵O̴N̸ ̴T̶O̴ ̶B̵E̸C̶O̷M̷E̸ ̶G̵O̶D̵S̴,̸ ̵A̸N̶D̴ ̴S̴H̷O̷W̴ ̸E̷V̴E̵R̸Y̴O̵N̴E̷ ̴T̵H̶E̵I̵R̶ ̶P̴L̸A̵C̷E̶.̴ ̶T̴H̷I̴S̵ ̷I̶S̸ ̵A̵L̶L̶ ̵A̴ ̸G̸A̶M̶E̴ ̶T̸O̴ ̵M̶E̴,̸ ̶A̷N̷D̵ ̶E̷V̴E̸R̵Y̸O̴N̵E̵ ̶H̷E̴R̸E̴ ̵I̷S̶ ̵J̵U̸S̷T̶ ̷A̷ ̸P̸A̸W̵N̴ ̷T̴O̵ ̸M̶E̵.̸ ̵I̶T̷ ̶I̷S̴ ̶W̸E̶L̷L̶ ̷P̴A̴S̸T̸ ̸T̶I̸M̵E̵ ̶T̷H̷A̶T̴ ̸I̶ ̴S̵H̶O̴W̵ ̶T̴H̶E̸M̴ ̷A̴L̷L̴ ̶T̶H̶E̴ ̶T̵R̸U̶E̶ ̵M̶E̷A̴N̵I̴N̸G̸ ̸O̷F̴ ̴T̴H̷I̴S̴ ̷W̷O̷R̴L̸D̴.̸** " Corsiva's eyes were filled with tears, which were glowing red. He was completely on his knees now.

"So…" He started, clenching his fists. "You made my life a living HELL, just so that you could take control of it, and kill everyone? Why?"

" **I̸T̷ ̵I̴S̴ ̷A̵S̸ ̴S̸O̶M̷E̵O̴N̸E̶ ̸E̸L̸S̷E̵ ̴O̷N̴C̵E̶ ̴S̷A̷I̴D̷:̵ ̵I̴N̸ ̵T̷H̶I̴S̶ ̷W̴O̸R̶L̵D̶,̸ ̵I̴T̴'̵S̵ ̴K̵I̷L̸L̵ ̷O̸R̶ ̴B̴E̴ ̶K̸I̷L̸L̴E̴D̷.** "

"And you honestly thought that I wouldn't try to stop you?!" The forlorn adolescent skeleton shouted his question at the emotionless, insane, ancient demon in front of him, before getting to his feet and jumping in automatically to punch the thing. As soon as his fist got close, the thing, which Corsiva was now referring to as The Chess Master, reached out with one of it's tendrils, grabbing the fist in mid air, and slamming the skeleton into the ground.

" **D̴I̶D̵ ̴Y̸O̶U̶ ̸T̸H̴I̶N̶K̸ ̶T̷H̸A̷T̵ ̷W̴O̸U̸L̵D̷ ̴W̵O̶R̶K̴?̴** " The Chess Master mock asked.

"Probably not." Corsiva responded nonchalantly.

You know sign language, right?* He signed over at Chara as he stood up, and summoned an intricately patterned barrage of bones and Gaster Blasters, throwing them at Chess Master.

Yes, I do.* Chara responded. *Why do you know how to speak it?*

I'm a magic skeleton, we can see and then read any and all words that people say. There's a very specific font called Wingdings, that all skeletons understand and can speak, and some skeletons are cursed to only speak, so all skeletons since then learned how to speak using Sign Language for those who don't understand the font. Also, there used to be some mute kids back at the orphanage, but I didn't speak to them much.*

Oh yeah, I remember them. They were how I learned, too.*

Doesn't matter. I need you to do something. I released you from your transparent cage.*

What do you need?*

Give control back to Frisk.*

NOW!?*

No, not now. I mean- we need to get out of this situation. Can you Reset?*

No, he's keeping me from doing it. Being an all-powerful deity comes with it's perks, I suspect.* Corsiva sighed.

Then I need you to teach me how to do it.*

You want ME, of all people, to teach you how to Reset!?*

Yes. I already know how to Save and Load, I managed to get that far, but I can't figure out how to Reset. It's our best chance at getting away from this guy, if only for a little while.*

How did you learn how to Save and Load?*

Turns out a certain 'best friend' will help you out a lot if you both have similar goals in mind. I found Flowey terrified out of his mind, crying, and told him that I wanted to stop the Genocide. He just didn't want to die, so he agreed. He taught me how to Save and Load, not through experience, but through just words. I took mental notes, and here we are now. So how do I Reset?*

Okay, I'll tell you. But you have to pay VERY close attention.*

Got it. Fire Away.*

You need to think back to when we started this whole adventure. When Frisk Reset, she was taken back all the way to right when she landed in the Underground after falling down. She didn't Reset to before she fell, or during her fall, or after she landed, it was exactly when she landed in that patch of Golden Flowers. And you have to be specific. You can't think to that general time period, you have to think back to the exact moment.*

Okay, then what?*

You remember every single detail?*

Yes.*

Where you were, what you were doing, who you were with? All of that?*

Yes!*

Okay. Now, you need to want with all of your heart, all of your SOUL, all of your very being, to go back.* Corsiva took a deep breath, closing his eyes. _**Frisk, I… I'll see you on the other side.**_ And, as he did exactly as Chara told him, right before the Chess Master managed to land a fatal blow on him...

* * *

 **SAVE FILE RESET.**


	37. RESET

He was back. He felt the same jolting feeling in his SOUL again, but he was used to it by now. Kind of. He still gripped the edges of the table.

"I'm not the only one who felt that, right?" He asked sans, feigning ignorance.

"don't play dumb, bro." Sans told him, his eye sockets empty and dark. "i remember the last two timelines. i know you do, too." Corsiva was slightly shocked.

"Sans, I…"

"don't apologize. just. don't." Corsiva sighed. "what happened after i died?" Sans asked him, his white pupils slowly manifesting again.

"I just want you to know something before I start. This is not the human who travelled through the Underground in the first timeline. Their body was being possessed by the dead human child, Chara." Sans looked slightly suspicious, but he nodded. "Well, I fought them for a bit. Turns out I can kill them pretty easily when I want to." Sans flinched a bit at this statement. "Relax, I only killed them because I needed to stall them. And I was only able to kill them because they killed everybody in my life. Since nobody has died yet, I won't be able to bring myself to kill them. I could severely injure them right now, just not kill them." Sans calmed down a bit.

"so, what happened then?" Sans asked his adoptive brother to continue.

"Well, eventually I showed them that even if they DID kill me, it wouldn't matter, because I could Save and Load too. I was just as determined as them, so they couldn't do anything to get past me. And I killed them again. We had a bit of a conversation in the Void place, because I can apparently just travel there when I feel like it, I just can't take someone or something else out with me. I asked them why they were doing what they did. After a little bit of arguing, I told them that I thought I could forgive them if they tried to be better, and they revealed why they did it: They didn't have a choice.

"See, Chara was being forced to do what she did by this crazy ultra powerful demon person with an ego problem who wanted nothing more than to gain a linear body and kill everyone and everything. I started calling them the Chess Master when they made a statement that this was all a game to them and everybody else was just a pawn in their game. Also, I found out that they were the reason that the machine malfunctioned and turned me into a skeleton. So, they apparently wanted to make me capable of becoming god, or just capable of withstanding god-like powers without dying. They made Chara kill everything to turn my life into a living hell, and make me weak enough for them to possess my body, turning me into their vessel. Then, when they had control of me, they would kill everyone and everything, and move on to the Surface to repeat the process. So needless to say, they were kind of insane, so I had Chara teach me how to Reset, they taught me, I did it, and here we are. Now, we should probably go talk to Toriel before we screw up the timeline and/or disturb the time-space continuum. Unless, of course, you'd _like_ to get erased from existence in a fraction of a second." Sans nodded with a small shrug, and the two set off to restart the day.

Back at the entrance to the Ruins, Frisk had just landed back in the underground again. She was currently just crouched down on the ground, silently crying to herself.

"Look, Frisk… I…" Chara tried to apologize, but she didn't quite know what to say. "…I just wanted to say… I'm sorry. I know that it can't make up for what I did, both to you and to the rest of the monsters in the underground, it never can. But I just want you to know that I'm sorry. So… if you can't forgive me… I understand." Frisk was silent. She had stopped crying. Chara eyed her curiously, slightly worried.

"I'm not crying… because of what you did." Frisk eventually said aloud, her voice still sounding choked up, as she looked at Chara. "I'm crying because… I went along with it."Chara looked even more upset at that.

"Frisk, you're not the one to blame here." She insisted. "It's me who did all of this. I convinced you to Reset. I'm the one who made you start the killing. If anybody is to blame, it's me."

"It's not just that." Frisk insisted. "When we did all of that… I could feel everything. When we fought Undyne, when we fought Sans… when we fought Corsiva… even though it was you who was in control… I felt everything. Every impalement. Every disintegration. Every minor annoyance. I felt all of the pain, just like you. And… I could feel the sorrow and pain coming off of Corsiva, too. Everytime we killed somebody, I could feel it emanating from him. Pain. Anguish. Depression. Anger. Sadness. Mourning. I don't even know how, but… I could. And I could tell that he really was sorry when he killed us so many times. Sure, he might have been laughing, and taunting you, and grinning the whole way through… but he was sorry. He didn't want to fight us. He didn't want to kill us any more than we wanted to die." Frisk was silent.

Chara stayed silent, too.

"…To be honest… I didn't really want to fight him, either." Chara admitted, making Frisk look at her. "You once said that Corsiva was your best friend. Well, that can be said for me, too. He can relate to what I've been through. He understands pain. He understands me. In a way that nobody else does. But more than that… I don't think that I wanted to kill somebody so close to you. All of the other monsters in the underground, you knew, but barely. The ones that had made an impact on you were foolish, at least from my perspective at the time. But Corsiva… he was different. You barely even knew him, yet you immediately made a connection with him. He completed you, and he completes me. I mean, you had barely known him for a few hours in the first timeline, and he cared enough about you to actually disobey both the Captain of the Royal Guard and the King of the Underground. He saved your life more times than I can count. And… I don't think I wanted to take that away from you. I was silently glad when I found out that he could Load, that he wasn't truly dead.

"I couldn't kill him. Not then, not before, and certainly not now. So, now, it's all up to you." Frisk looked at Chara again, surprised and slightly confused. "These two previous timelines, I was always having some partial control over you. Whispering suggestions in your ear, telling you what to do and where to go. But this time? You get to choose. Not me. You. I won't interfere." Chara was silent again.

"You know, I really wish you were solid." Frisk eventually said.

"So you could punch me?" Chara asked.

"Because I really want to hug you right now." Frisk instead responded. Chara looked over at her. "I forgive you, Chara." Frisk told her friend. Chara smiled at her, tears in her eyes.

"Thank you." Chara replied. Frisk nodded with a small shrug, and the two set off to restart the day.

 **A/N - Well, I'm back! And the story will get much more lighthearted from this point (for now). The Genocide Run is over, and I'm sure you can guess what we're gonna be doing next. Just in case you don't, I'll give you a rundown of what we've seen happen so far. We've had a Neutral Run, with the "Family Ending," otherwise known as "Flawed Pacifist." Then, we had a Reset back to the beginning, and went through a Genocide Route, which was aborted during and/or after the fight with Corsiva. Now, Chara's leaving all of the choices to Frisk, and Frisk alone. Take a guess where that's going to end up. Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, as well as the last few Genocide chapters. Please comment and/or review, I'd appreciate to get some feedback from the people who read this story. I hope you have a good day, and I'll see you in the next one. Until then, peace out, and may the force be with you.**

 **-SF**


	38. Goats, Ghosts, and Quotes

Everything was practically the same through the first portion of the Ruins as the first timeline, with the added exception that Frisk was moving a bit faster this time. Corsiva meanwhile, was trying to figure out what to do. He had asked that Undyne would have the Royal Guard meeting earlier than normal, which she did. He made sure to inform everybody earlier than normal that a human was in the Underground, that he had been observing them for a while, and that they weren't something to fear, that they just wanted to help everybody and go home.

Undyne was once again informed of how the human was a pacifist, and that they were Corsiva's sister from the surface, though he didn't want them to know that, at least not yet. Alphys was told the truth about who the human was, and how Corsiva was going to try and help them. Papyrus was told that Corsiva was part of the Royal Guard as well, the Skelebros set up all their puzzles through Snowdin, and Corsiva had gotten in some work on the machine with Sans. All done before Frisk even left the Ruins. But still, Corsiva was nervous, hell, he was terrified at what was going to happen. But, it all was going to happen anyways. So, he made sure to just mentally prepare himself. And then, he walked in.

He passed onto the other side of the door almost instantly, got over the new sensation of walking through walls (something Sans could do and had FINALLY taught him how to do), and looked around. It was a bit dark where he was, with a single patch of grass in front of him. The grass was empty at the moment, but he had an idea of what might be in there later. He started walking forward more, and saw another door in front of him. This door looked a bit more well kept, though it was at the end of a ludicrously long hallway. When he got to this door, he quietly opened it, and walked inside, closing it after himself.

Corsiva tried to remember whether or not he ever told Sans and Papyrus where he was going, or even Undyne. Sans would be fine if he didn't know where he was. It was more Undyne and Papyrus that would be the problem if they didn't know that he was going to be gone. He looked at his phone, and sighed in relief; he had indeed made sure to text his friend and his brothers that he would be gone for a little bit. Good. That wouldn't be an issue. Now, all he had to do was to convince Toriel that he was there to help. Hopefully, he would be able to do it without trouble, and wouldn't raise any red flags. He just couldn't tell her too much. No pressure or anything.

He continued walking forward a bit, and took a right turn eventually, before walking up a staircase. He was instantly greeted by a much more friendly looking room. While everything in the corridor below him was like purple bricks and tiling, the room he was in now was more like a home. Lightly colored wooden floors, potted plants on top of small tables, bookshelves, and other things. As a matter of fact, it looked very similar to King Asgore's home. **_I'm guessing that isn't a coincidence._** Corsiva thought to himself.

He quietly walked out, looking for somebody. Anybody. He quickly found what looked like a living room and dining room next to him, and saw another room connected to it. He heard some noises coming from it; it sounded like somebody was cooking. Corsiva quickly put on a bit of a smirk, walking forward to see who was inside of the kitchen. He saw a monster with white fur and long ears, small horns. They looked somewhat like Asgore, further confirming his suspicions that this was Toriel. The goat looking monster was wearing a large, purple/blue robe.

Corsiva walked into the doorway a little bit, before leaning on the wall.

"Smells good." He quipped suddenly, causing Toriel to jump slightly and let out a small noise of exclamation. She turned around quickly, her hands burning with fire magic, her eyes wide, as she instinctively threw a ball of fire at Corsiva. Corsiva, who was expecting something like this to happen, didn't flinch as he held his hand up in mid air and caught the fire magic, which extinguished itself upon contact with his skeletal hand.

"Careful, that's a bit of a fire hazard." He quipped again. "I don't want anything to happen to you, your majesty." Toriel calmed down a bit, the fire in her hands slowly disappearing.

"Who are you?" She questioned Corsiva. "I don't recognize you. How did you get in here?" Corsiva raised a skeletal brow.

"Uh, there's a door downstairs." He replied simply, pointing at the ground. "And can I just say, this is a lovely little home you've got here. Very quaint, very cozy. You could raise a family in here." Toriel was calming down more and more by the second.

"Your voice sounds familiar." She noted. "Do I know you?"

"Sure you do." Corsiva replied, before knocking twice on the wall he was leaning on. Toriel looked confused, before realization came. "Corsiva the skeleton." He introduced himself. She smiled warmly at him.

"Greetings. I am Toriel. Sorry for being so impolite." Corsiva shrugged.

"Don't worry about it." He responded. "I was kind of expecting you to react to my entrance like you did." The two were silent for a few seconds.

"Pardon my being so rude, but may I ask why you are here?" Toriel eventually broke the silence. Corsiva thought of what to say.

"Well, I know you said that a Human recently fell down into the Underground, and I wanted to see if there was any way I could protect them. Maybe, guide them back here?" Toriel looked thoughtful for a moment, before nodding.

"That sounds reasonable." She replied. "I suppose I should give you a map." Corsiva found himself being led over to the table in the living/dining room, where Toriel laid out a map across the surface.

"I left the child…" Toriel examined the map, thinking. "Here." She finished, pointing her finger at a random room on the map. Corsiva looked at where she said Frisk should be, and nodded. He examined the map a little bit longer, before saying

"Got it." And he started walking towards the door to the rest of the ruins.

"Shouldn't you bring the map with you?" Toriel questioned, slightly concerned.

"I've got a photographic memory." He responded simply. "I've got the map memorized. Thanks for the concern, though, Queen Toriel." Toriel flinched slightly at what Corsiva called her.

"Just call me Toriel, if you would." She asked of him.

"Okay." Corsiva responded. "I'll be back with F- the human before you know it, Toriel." Toriel nodded, and with a snap of his fingers, Corsiva was gone.

Unsurprisingly, Frisk wasn't in the room Toriel said she would be in. She always was curious. Corsiva quickly took a look at his mental recreation of the map, and looked at the path from here to Toriel's home. After finding it, he quickly began shifting between rooms, trying to find Frisk. He eventually found her in a room next to another with a table, a piece of cheese on the table, and a mouse hole. She appeared to be entering a fight with a monster. Corsiva, upon seeing this, calmly walked forward.

"Hey, bud." He greeted, tapping Frisk on the shoulder. Frisk jumped slightly, and looked at Corsiva.

"Corsiva! Hi!" She greeted, her eyes widening, and a grin appearing on her face.

"What's going on he- oh, hey Napstablook!" As it turned out, the monster Frisk was fighting was indeed Undyne's shy neighbor.

"oh… hey…" He said, seeing Corsiva.

"How've ya been, buddy?" Corsiva asked him.

"…fine, i guess… you?" Corsiva shrugged.

"He doesn't seem to have much of a sense of humor, does he?" Chara asked Corsiva.

"oh, i'm REAL funny." Napstablook replied, shocking Chara slightly.

"How can you…?" She started, confused at how Napstablook heard her, or saw her.

"Well, I mean, he's a ghost, and you're kind of like a spirit, so…" Corsiva said in explanation. Chara closed her mouth, evidently satisfied with the answer.

Suddenly, magical tears started coming from Napstablook; he appeared to be crying. The tears landed on Frisk's shoe, and Corsiva heard her flinch slightly; it appeared that Napstablook's attacks were all related to him crying.

"i'm just intruding here, aren't i… maybe i should just go…" Frisk smiled softly at Napstablook.

"You don't need to leave. You're fine." She tried comforting Napstablook. The shy ghost smiled a tiny bit.

"heh…" Corsiva, seeing what Frisk was doing, quickly decided to follow suit.

"Hey Napstablook, do you want to do something with me later today? Maybe ride in an elevator or something? Come on, it might raise your spirits." Napstablook smiled a bit wider.

"heh… heh…" Less tears dropped from his eyes. "let me try…" Napstablook started, and he started crying again. The tears, however, went upwards, completely defying gravity, and started forming something on his head.

"i call it 'dapper blook'…" He continued, as the tears formed a top hat on his head. As soon as the hat was fully formed, the tears stopped coming. "do you like it?" Frisk smiled at him again, and replied.

"I love it." She said simply. Napstablook blushed furiously.

"oh gee…" A single tear fell from his eye, landing harmlessly on the ground.

"i usually come to the RUINS because there's nobody around... but today i met somebody nice... ... oh, i'm rambling again. i'll get out of your way." And with that, Napstablook disappeared. Corsiva looked over at Frisk, a smile on his face.

"You really have a way with words, you know that?" He asked her. She looked over at him, still smiling.

"He's right." Chara agreed with Corsiva. "You do." Frisk looked over at Chara, then back at Corsiva, then back at Chara again.

"I don't really know what to say, here." She eventually told them, chuckling.

"Just accept the compliment." Corsiva pushed her playfully. He continued to look at her for a few seconds. Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes. "You're hurt." He said aloud, staring at her with a concerned expression. Frisk shook her head slightly.

"It's nothing." She argued. "I'm fine."

"Don't bother denying it, Frisk. I can see your stats. LV: 1/20. EXP: 0. AT: 10. DF: 10. HP: 7/20." Frisk sighed.

"Okay, yes, I'm slightly injured." She gave up trying to convince him. "But I'll live. I'm not missing an arm here." She suddenly grinned slightly. "Merely a flesh wound." She added on in an accent that sounded like a cross between British and Scottish. Corsiva smirked, understanding the reference.

"You're a looney." He quoted.

"I will never understand you two." Chara sighed.

"You've never seen Monty Python and The Holy Grail?" Corsiva asked her. She shook her head. "That's it. The first chance I get, you are going to be thoroughly educated in pop culture." Chara chuckled at Corsiva's statement. "I'm serious." He told her.

"I know." She replied.

Corsiva shook his head, still laughing. He calmed down a bit, before putting his hands on Frisk, and told her:

"Hold still for me." He started healing her. Within a few seconds, she looked much better, her HP back up to 20, and her clothes repaired. A cut she had on her cheek was closed up, and returned to normal color. When he finished healing her, he took his hands off her, and beckoned for her to follow him. After paying for a Spider Donut in the Spider Bake Sale up ahead, and storing it in his pockets, he pulled Frisk and Chara along through the Ruins.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, why are you here?" Frisk asked him as they traversed the catacombs.

"I wanted to shake things up a bit." Corsiva replied simply. It was a partial lie. That was one of the reasons, so was what he had told Toriel earlier, but it wasn't the full truth. "I wanted to make sure that I could protect you more as you travel the underground." Partial lie. "I made the same promise as Sans to keep you safe." Partial lie. "And… I care about you." Frisk looked at him, her eyes slightly widened, eyebrows raised.

"N-not in a romantic way!" Corsiva added, feeling flustered. Frisk's eyebrows slowly lowered, as she allowed Corsiva to explain himself. Chara looked at him in an interested and curious manner. "I mean, Frisk, you're the best thing to ever happen to the Underground. You have such a positive impact on everybody around you. You make the shy open up, make the timid feel more confident. Frisk, you have the ability to change and help people so much, and in ways that I never did and never could! You can make Papyrus feel happy, you can befriend Undyne, you can show Sans that there's still hope, and all in a span of less than a day! I mean, from the moment I first met you, my life was instantly better! And, I just… I care about you so much, Frisk. I don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to you."

Frisk looked over at Corsiva meaningfully.

"We never _actually_ know what will happen." She quoted. "We can only make educated guesses based on what we _know_ about what has _already_ happened and what we _think_ we know about the odds of our situation." Corsiva smiled at her.

"You were paying attention." He said aloud. Frisk smiled back at him.

"I pay attention to every word you direct at me, and a few more, too." They stared at each other.

"You know, maybe we should get going, huh?" Chara asked. "It's getting kind of uncomfortable for me just watching you two stare at each other like that." Corsiva chuckled.

"Yeah, fine, let's keep going." He said aloud. "We probably shouldn't keep Toriel waiting, anyways." Frisk nodded, and the trio began moving forward, through the ruins.

 **A/N - So, here's the second biggest diversion from the core story of the pacifist run in this story: Corsiva helping Frisk through the Ruins. The single biggest diversion will be revealed eventually, but for now, you'll just have to wait. Anyways, I hope you are enjoying this story, and that you continue to enjoy it. Please, give me some feedback and write a review for my story; even if you don't have an account, I still like to see (constructive) criticism, or people just saying how much they're liking the story. I hope you have a good day, and I'll see you in the next one.**

 **-SF**


	39. Cooking Stories and Peaceful Dreams

On their travels, they encountered a few monsters, but it was nothing that Corsiva and Frisk couldn't handle. Eventually, they got back to Toriel's house.

"Toriel!" Corsiva called for the former queen. "I'm back." Toriel slowly came around to see them on the other side of the tree.

"Splendid!" She said, smiling. "I hope that you didn't have any troubles getting her here, did you?" Corsiva smiled, and shook his head.

"No troubles that we couldn't handle." He told her. They hung out with Toriel for a little bit, with Toriel showing Frisk a room that she had supposedly set up in preparation for the child. Frisk was currently taking a good long nap, she apparently hadn't gotten much sleep before she fell into the underground. Corsiva was with Toriel, helping her finish up cooking a Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie, and just talking casually.

"So, you've been hiding here for nine years?" Corsiva asked the former queen for clarification.

"I have." She told him. "When… when Asriel and Chara died, Asgore had declared war against humanity, as I'm sure you are aware. However, I… I became disgusted with his actions. I was already distraught enough at how my two children had died, and when he said that… I just couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't bear to live in a home that remained a constant reminder of my two fallen children, couldn't bear to look at the face that so resembled my son's, that had declared war against humanity. So, I left." Corsiva nodded.

"I can… understand your pain, somewhat." He told her. "I…" He suddenly looked around, making sure that nobody else was around and could hear him. "What I'm about to tell you is a very deep secret, so I need you to promise not to tell anybody about it." He asked Toriel, looking back at the former queen of the underground. "At least, not until I say that you can. Can you promise me that?" Toriel nodded solemnly. Corsiva smiled at her gratefully. "Thank you." He told her. "Well, here goes nothing.

"I wasn't always… like this. I wasn't always a skeleton. I used to be a human, my name was Drake Addams. My life on the surface, before I fell, was… let's just say it was less than ideal. When I was five, my parents… they were assassinated. The people who did it made a good job of hiding it, made it look like an average car accident from my spot inside the car. I got extremely lucky, and managed to survive the trip to the hospital. My sibling survived, too. They were my only family left, and really my only friend at the orphanage I grew up at. The woman who was supposed to care for us hated both me and my sibling, so did a good portion of the other kids at the orphanage. But I didn't really care. I took beatings, I gained horrible memories of that place, I went to hell and back, but I didn't complain through any of it, I didn't even flinch. All I knew was that I needed to protect my sibling, and keep them innocent.

"So, I led by example. I taught them to follow pacifism, to talk their way out of problems, because words can do what fists never could. I told them about the value of dodging instead of attacking, because when you attack, you leave yourself open to attack. If you dodge long enough, eventually they're going to run out of energy, and you'll still have some to spare. They took those words to heart. But, I always tried to keep them from getting hurt by the other children. Then, one day a little over four years ago, I messed up.

"I was in the orphanage, just minding my own business, when I felt something inside me, inside my SOUL, telling me something. I didn't know what that something was, but I just strongly felt like I had to go somewhere, and although my brain wasn't sure where it was, my feet did. I walked all the way over to the other side of the building, gradually picking up speed as I did, when I finally saw it, and stopped dead in my tracks. It was my sibling, laying on the ground, in pain, getting kicked by the other kids. I remember what went through my head when I saw that. I was just… wondering blank. Like, I tried to process what I was seeing, and I tried to make a conscious effort to think about what to do, but it was a lot more difficult than usual.

"So, I tried to regain my bearings, and walked towards the kids beating up my younger sibling, and last living family member. At first, I asked them to stop politely, tried to be diplomatic about it, you know? They ignored me, and kept beating up my sibling. I tried my usual routine next, sarcasm, insults, and just all around smack talking. They still ignored me. I hadn't realized it until then, but my sibling had been whimpering as they lay on the ground. The only reason I didn't notice it until then was because at that point, the whimpering stopped.

"My logical thinking stopped working, and pure instinct just kicked in. The only thing I knew was that my sibling was inches away from death, and I needed to protect them. I shouted to the bullies, causing them to stop attacking, and look back at me. They didn't speak, just sent my death glares that would terrify any other child my age at that time. I didn't speak, either, and I wasn't scared of them in the slightest. Instead, I rushed forward, and for the first time in my life, I fought them.

"I just attacked, and attacked, and attacked. They didn't even land a single hit on me, but I landed plenty on them. I was in a blind fury, I didn't care about what they tried to do to me, or if they did anything to me after this. I think my sudden outburst of violence must have shocked them, or they were seriously underestimating me, but I didn't think that I would win a fight with them on almost any other day. But, eventually, they ran away, probably realizing that they wouldn't win that fight, not right then. When they ran away, my logical thinking and analytical posture returned, and I immediately went back to my sibling. They were just barely awake, enough that I still had some hope. But, they were crying, and I knew why. In that moment, I made a promise to them. I promised that as long as I lived, as long as I still walked this unholy earth, I would make sure that nothing bad happened to them, and that I wouldn't ever hurt another person, unless it was absolutely necessary.

"After that day, I made plans to leave that god forsaken orphanage. If I had my way, we would be out of that place in six months. We didn't even make it two months before we had to leave. It was today, exactly four years ago. The bullies at the orphanage finally decided that they wanted to get rid of me. So, I obliged, but not in the way they were expecting. Me and my sibling left the orphanage that evening. I fell into Mount Ebott that same night. I don't know how, but somehow, Sans knew I had fallen in automatically. He used one of his 'shortcuts,' and brought me back to the lab of the royal scientist, Dr. Alphys. When I woke up, I found out about how the monsters were all trapped down here, and instantly wanted to help.

"We built a machine that was designed to strengthen an individual's SOUL, their very core. If my calculations were as correct as they usually were in that moment, then the machine should have worked perfectly. There was just one problem. Calculations can have different outcomes than experiments can, and we, uh… didn't exactly have many people to test it on. So, I volunteered. The machine actually worked… kind of. Something went wrong while we were testing it, and… well, I was a lot lighter from that day forward." Toriel gave a small smile at Corsiva's joke.

"Ever since the day that I fell, the day that I turned into… this, I can't help but feel like I broke my promise to my sibling. I promised not to let anything or anyone hurt them, but I left them, and I hurt them in ways that nobody else could. And, while I've been living down here comfortably for the past four years, I've left them to assume that I'm dead. I don't know what's happened to them on the surface while I was sitting down here, wondering if the hey're okay. For all I knew, they could be dead. And, if they were alive, would they even recognize me? Would they forgive me for what I did?"

Corsiva was silent again. Toriel was looking at him with a saddened, concerned, and comforting expression.

"I lost everyone close to me, everything that connected me to my past life, when I fell down into the Underground on that fateful day four years ago. I've been thinking back on it every day since then, wondering to myself: Did I do the right thing?" They were both silent, before Corsiva cleared his throat. "Well, maybe we should just get back to making this pie." He said aloud, trying to change the topic to something else.

"Corsiva…" Toriel started, but Corsiva held his hand up.

"Please, just don't." He asked of her. "I just wanted to let you know that I can feel your pain. Reliving those memories… it makes me feel vulnerable. I don't particularly like feeling that way, so I usually don't talk about those memories, with anybody really. I just… want to move on from this. Okay?" Toriel was silent for a few seconds, before she sighed.

"Alright." She relented.

"Thank you." Corsiva sighed, grateful.

Suddenly, he lifted his hand upwards a little bit, which started glowing blue. Toriel heard something move behind her, and turned around to see a little white dog floating in the air, also glowing blue.

"Toby, no." Corsiva said sternly, though a small smile was on his face. "I saw you going for that phone. No." Toby just looked at him, his tail wagging excitedly, and Corsiva sighed again, moving Toby over to the living room, and throwing him a bone. "Take this bone, or go bother Papyrus or something. Just don't steal people's phones. Okay?" Toby gave a small bark, then grabbed the bone, and ran off. Corsiva sighed again, shaking his head. Toriel had her mouth behind her hand, she appeared to be giggling slightly. Corsiva rolled his eyes.

A few minutes later, the pie was ready, and Toriel had cut out a slice, putting it on a plate. Corsiva offered to take it into Frisk's room for her (though he didn't use Frisk's name when referring to her), which she accepted, before she grabbed a book and a pair of glasses, sitting down in the reading chair in front of the fireplace. Corsiva calmly walked over to the room, and quietly opened the door. When he peered inside, Frisk was asleep in the bed, the speaker (which he had brought with him into the ruins and programmed to follow Frisk again when he saw her) was playing a new song that Corsiva had designed (called "Home"), and Chara was just standing up, looking at everything in the room, taking it all in. Corsiva popped the door open a tiny bit more, and walked inside, finally alerting Chara to his presence.

She looked at him silently, and he gave her a small smile, which she returned, before he walked forward a few steps, and placed the pie and plate on the ground next to the bed, where Frisk could easily spot it. He looked at Frisk, just watching her sleep. She seemed so peaceful, which was more than he could say about his dreams most of the time. He inched closer to her bed, his face still wearing that small smile, as he watched his sister. He brushed a strand of hair out of her face gently, not loud or forceful enough to wake her, and leaned forward a bit. He knew that, as a skeleton, he wouldn't be able to put a small kiss on her forehead, so he did the next best thing; he simply put his forehead against hers for a few seconds. After those few seconds ended, he backed up from her bed, and whispered:

"Sweet dreams, sis." With that, he turned off the lamp in the corner, gave a small wave to Chara, left the room just as quietly as he entered, and closed the door with a soft "Click!"

 **A/N - Corsiva and Toriel open up to each other, bonding over grief and loss. After that- Awww how sweet! Just a brother being kind to his sleeping, oblivious (both to their relationship and his presence), younger sister. Anyways, disregarding how sweet this sibling moment is, next chapter, we get back into the swing of things with some action. If you're reading this, you know what the story of Undertale is, I don't need to tell you what's next. Also, if you can read this, you don't need glasses. If anyone can guess what movie that quote is from, congratulations. I'll give you a hint with another quote: "So at last, we meet, for the first time, for the last time. (Thinks to himself for a few seconds, then nods) Yeah." Peace out, I'll see you next time, have a good day.**

 **-SF**


	40. Goodbye, For Now

About a half hour later, Frisk woke up. She looked around, saw the Butterscotch-Cinnamon Pie on the ground, and saw Chara just staring blankly at a drawing of a flower on the wall. Frisk noticed that the speaker was now playing a music box variation of the one of the songs from earlier, and that the lamp was now off. She stood up, doing a quick stretch, put the pie into her pocket, and walked over to Chara. She looked at the drawing.

"This was your room, wasn't it?" She asked Chara, who only then noticed she was awake, and looked over at her. Chara nodded. "And the flower?" Frisk asked, pointing at the flower on the wall.

"I drew it." Chara admitted. "This room was the room that me and Asriel used to live in, before we moved to New Home. The bed you were just in used to be mine. I guess after Mom came back to the Ruins, after Asriel died and Dad declared war on humanity, she redecorated it a bit. She moved Asriel's bed somewhere else, that much I can tell. Maybe she moved it into the room under renovations, maybe she just got rid of it. I don't know. It doesn't really matter, though."

Eventually, Frisk and Chara stopped staring at the drawing, and walked out into the main area of Toriel's home. They both saw the staircase leading to the exit of the ruins, but didn't make for it. Instead, they walked out into the living room area, finding Toriel sitting in the armchair, reading a book, and Corsiva just leaning against the wall, one foot propped up in the air and against it, his arms folded, and snoring quietly as his head drooped down, his eye sockets closed. Frisk smiled at the sight of Corsiva, shaking her head slightly. She walked over to Toriel, ready to start her conversation.

"Up already, I see?" Toriel asked, causing Frisk to nod. "Um, I want you to know how glad I am to have someone here. There are so many old books I want to share." She glanced over to Corsiva. "While you were resting, he managed to read his way through my entire library. He said something about… expanding his knowledge." The former queen giggled. "Truthfully, it seems to me that he's already knowledgeable enough. I think that he just wanted to find something new to read." Frisk smiled at the thought, looking back at the skeleton, who was still snoring quietly. "Anyways, I want to show you my favorite bug-hunting spot." Toriel continued. "I've also prepared a curriculum for your education. This may come as a surprise to you… But I have always wanted to be a teacher." Toriel was silent for half a second. "…Actually, perhaps that isn't very surprising."

"I think you'd be a good teacher." Corsiva suddenly said aloud, shocking them both. "After all, you managed to help me learn how to bake a pie with you. You're pretty good at giving…" Corsiva paused for dramatic effect, and Frisk started grinning, knowing where this was going. "…Two-TORIEL-s." He finished, winking, and suddenly pulling a mirror out of nowhere, which was reflecting Toriel's face. Toriel started giggling again, as Frisk chuckled, and Chara smirked and shook her head, sighing.

Toriel eventually regained her composure.

"STILL…" She started, clearing her throat, "I am glad to have you living here." Frisk looked down at her feet, rubbing the back of her neck. "Oh? Did you want something?" Toriel questioned, and Frisk gave a small nod. Corsiva, seeing where this was going, sighed.

"I'll let you two talk for a minute." He said aloud, before he shifted away. Toriel blinked at his sudden disappearance, slightly taken aback at how quickly he just popped out of existence.

"What is it?" She asked Frisk, regardless of her confusion.

Unbeknownst to her, Corsiva hadn't gone very far. Rather, he'd just shifted back down into the room before the door downstairs. He wasn't able to hear what Toriel and Frisk were talking about upstairs, but he could just barely hear their voices, and their tones. Frisk was sounding sheepish, guilty, but confident. Meanwhile, Toriel was sounding more and more nervous, anxious, and like she was trying to change the topic. He sighed, having a decent idea as to what was happening; Frisk was asking about leaving the ruins, and Toriel was trying to find ways to keep her there. Eventually, he heard footsteps walking down the stairs, and through the echoing hallways. He heard Toriel start talking again, her voice more audible this time.

"You wish to know how to return 'home,' do you not?" He heard Toriel ask Frisk. "Ahead of us lies the end of the RUINS. A one-way exit to the rest of the underground." Toriel took a deep breath. "I am going to destroy it." She eventually stated, sounding resolved, and determined. "No one will ever be able to leave again. Now be a good child and go upstairs." The footsteps continued, Toriel's calm, determined, and big footsteps somehow echoing less than Frisk's anxious, rushed, and small footsteps, though that might just have been that Frisk was also wearing shoes, while Toriel was barefoot. Toriel continued talking as she walked, rather than stop every few steps to talk to Frisk.

"Every human that falls down here meets the same fate. I have seen it again and again. They come. They leave. They die. You naive child… If you leave the RUINS… They… ASGORE… Will kill you. I am only protecting you, do you understand? …go to your room." Another few seconds of nothing but echoing footsteps. Corsiva finally saw Toriel round the corner, and freeze as she saw him standing there. Her expression became slightly thoughtful, with a touch of warning.

"Do not try to stop me. This is your final warning." She started walking forward again, and Corsiva now saw Frisk come around the corner, who then looked at him, and froze for half a second, before she started moving again. They both eventually stopped right in front of Corsiva and the door. Corsiva walked out of the way of the door, and Toriel spoke again.

"You want to leave so badly?" She asked the pre-teen behind her without turning around. "Hmph. You are just like the others. There is only one solution to this. Prove yourself… Prove to me you are strong enough to survive." Toriel turned around, and looked at Frisk, who was now standing next to Corsiva. Suddenly, Toriel's expression became confused.

"…wait." She started. "…why are you looking at me like that? Like you have seen a ghost." Corsiva looked over at his sister, who, sure enough, was looking incredibly pale, her expression looking horrified. Corsiva saw Chara looking at Frisk, her expression sad, and concerned. He suddenly remembered what Chara has told him back in the Void, and realized that Frisk was having flashbacks to when she killed Toriel in the past timeline.

"Do you know something that I do not?" Toriel questioned, before she shook her head softly, and more to herself than anybody else. "No… That is impossible." She assured herself, before she took a deep breath, and her expression became more stern. The speaker started playing a song, one that Corsiva had created on the spot. It was slightly similar to ASGORE, except that it was much shorter, less intense, and in a different key, as well as just slightly more like Toriel. He quickly thought up a name for it ("Heartache"), and CHECKed Toriel's stats. **_Toriel blocks the way!_** He started, mentally communicating with Frisk. **_LV: 1/20. EXP: 0. AT: 80. DF: 80. HP: 440/440. Knows best for you._**

She just barely stopped herself from nodding, only just snapping out of her daze. Toriel sent a few fireballs towards Frisk, not really wanting to hurt her. Frisk, still slightly disoriented, wasn't completely aware of the fire heading towards her until the last second, where she gave a small yelp, and threw her hands in front of her face. However, the gesture was futile, as before the fire made contact with her, it was stopped by something else. Frisk opened her eyes to see what had caused it, and saw that Corsiva's hand was extended out towards her, and a few bones were sticking out of the ground in front of her. She looked towards him, grateful, to which he gave a curt nod. As the bones retracted, Frisk looked back at Toriel. She stood there, looking Toriel directly in the eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't find anything to say.

"It seems that, ironically enough, talking isn't the solution here." Chara stated, though her face remained emotionless.

Toriel was silent as she continued to attack Frisk, and each time, either Frisk would dodge, or Corsiva would block the attacks, and Frisk would refuse to fight back. Eventually, Toriel started talking.

"What are you doing?" She questioned Frisk. "Attack or run away! What are you proving this way? Fight me or leave!" Frisk still refused to fight back, staring at Toriel longingly. "Stop it." Toriel insisted. "Stop looking at me that way. Go away!" Toriel was silent for a few more seconds, taking more time between her attacks, as her expression became more and more sad. Eventually, the music stopped, and Toriel spoke:

"I know you want to go home, but…" Toriel started, "But please… Go upstairs now. I promise I will take good care of you here. I know we do not have much, but… We can have a good life here." Toriel offered a small, sad smile, before it turned back into a frown. "Why are you making this so difficult? Please, go upstairs." She was silent for a few more seconds, before she started chuckling softly.

"Ha ha… Pathetic, is it not? I cannot save even a single child." She was silent for just a few more seconds, before she spoke again. "No, I understand. You would just be unhappy trapped down there. The RUINS are very small once you get used to them. It would not be right for you to grow up in a place like this. My expectations… My loneliness… My fear… For you, my child… I will put them aside." Toriel was looking sad again, and her tone was just as sad, dejected.

"If you truly wish to leave the RUINS… I will not stop you." She said to Frisk. "However, when you leave… Please do not come back. I hope you understand." Toriel crouched down, and hugged Frisk, which Frisk happily returned, and they just stood there, embracing each other for a few seconds. Eventually, Toriel pulled away, and looked at Corsiva.

"I swear to you, I'll make sure nothing happens to them." He told Toriel determinedly. "I'll protect them to the best of my ability, until the day comes that I turn to dust, and I feel death's warm embrace." Toriel nodded to him, a small smile once more on her face. She looked towards Frisk again.

"Goodbye, my child." She said to Frisk, before she walked away. Frisk and Corsiva looked at each other for a few seconds, before they walked through the door to the rest of the underground.

 **A/N - Aaaand that was the battle with Toriel. I hope you realize that it's incredibly difficult to translate a fight from Undertale into writing. Some of them might not be the most exciting, or they might seem a bit rushed, and for that, I'm sorry. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed, please leave a review sharing your thoughts, and have a good day.**

 **-SF**


	41. Allow Me To (Re)Introduce Myself

As they walked through, Corsiva tried a trick that Sans was constantly doing. Instead of walking through the door and out into the ludicrously long hallway, Corsiva shifted them both (without even touching Frisk) automatically out into the cold of Snowdin Forest. Upon seeing that this had happened, Frisk looked over at Corsiva with an eyebrow raised. He shrugged.

"Shortcut." He said simply. "That hallway was extremely long." She looked at him for a few more seconds, before she too shrugged, and sighed. They walked forward a bit, before Frisk heard footsteps coming from behind her. She sighed, shaking her head, and continued to walk, knowing what was coming. Corsiva, too, knew what it was, and kept walking, until they got to the giant gate Papyrus built, and Corsiva walked right on through and stopping in front of Sans' sentry station, still listening as Frisk froze right in front of the gate and Sans walked right up behind her.

"Human." Sans started, his tone emotionless and threatening, and Frisk turned around automatically. Sans offered his hand forward, gesturing for a handshake, and Frisk took it, Corsiva watching. Corsiva snickered as the loud farting sound from the whoopee cushion echoed out.

"heh, the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick…" Sans started chuckling, as the speaker started playing the song that Corsiva had designed for him, titled simply "sans." (God, he was really just messing around and slacking off when he was making these songs, wasn't he?) "wait a sec…" Sans' brow furrowed slightly, as he feigned ignorance and confusion. "have you heard it before or something?" He asked Frisk, and Corsiva had to admit, Sans was really good at pretending like he didn't know what was going on. "you turned around before i said to…" Frisk froze even more, her grin having slowly turned into a nervous frown. "…weird." Sans said aloud, as Frisk started sweating.

"…whatever." Sans shrugged it off, and Frisk's expression slowly turned back to normal. "you're a human, right?" Sans asked Frisk, and she nodded. "i'm sans. sans the skeleton. i'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now. but… y'know… i don't really care about capturing anybody." Sans winked. "neither does my brother, corsiva, over there. i guess you already met him earlier. now, our other brother, papyrus… he's a human-hunting FANATIC." Corsiva suddenly squinted, and pointed over towards the direction that Snowdin Town was.

"I think that's him over there, actually." He said to Sans, still pointing. Suddenly, Corsiva put on a mischievous grin, as Sans' grin widened comically. (heh, comic.)

"i have an idea." Sans told Frisk. "go through this gate thingy. yeah, go right through."

"Papyrus made the bars too wide to stop anybody, anyways." Corsia stated, shrugging, as he walked into Sans' sentry station, and leaned forward against the counter, holding himself up by using his arms to prop himself upwards slightly. As Sans and Frisk walked through the gate, Sans pointed to a lamp.

"quick, behind that conveniently shaped lamp." Frisk rolled her eyes, and walked behind the lamp, which perfectly covered her, but from Sans' perspective only. As Papyrus stomped towards them, Sans' theme was quickly replaced by Papyrus' motif, "Nyeh Heh Heh!"

"sup, bro?" Sans asked Papyrus casually.

"YOU KNOW WHAT 'SUP,' BROTHER!" Papyrus shouted back, glaring. "IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T… RECALIBRATED. YOUR. PUZZLES! YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?!"

"staring at this lamp." Sans said simply, shocking Corsiva with what he was doing. Was he _trying_ to get Frisk spotted?! "it's really cool. do you wanna look?" Papyrus stomped his foot on the ground rapidly.

"NO!" He shouted back. "I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!?"

"Then they'd have a pretty easy time getting past your gate, bro." Corsiva told Papyrus, causing his brother to look at him and blink, having not noticed him up until that point.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?" Papyrus asked, genuinely confused. Corsiva shrugged.

"You made the bars too wide." He answered simply. "They won't stop anyone, they'll just walk right on through." He suddenly grinned. "But don't feel too bad, bro. Just because it won't stop anyone…" Papyrus started glaring at him, too.

"DON'T YOU DARE…" Papyrus warned his brother.

"It doesn't mean that it won't stop any-two." Corsiva finished, winking, causing Papyrus to groan, and Frisk to snicker, as Sans chuckled. Papyrus suddenly heard Frisk's snicker, and started looking around.

"WHAT WAS THAT NOISE?" He asked Corsiva.

"Oh, nothing." Corsiva said, shrugging it off. Then, he started catching onto what Sans had been doing. "Just the lamp. Maybe if you check it out, you'll see something." Papyrus glared at him even harder.

"YOU TOO?!" He shouted. "SANS, YOU'VE CORRUPTED CORSIVA!"

"Oh dear, he has? Well, thanks for…"

"DON'T YOU DARE…" Papyrus warned, but Corsiva shrugged and winked.

"… _shedding some light_ on that issue." Corsiva finished, and Papyrus screamed even harder.

"IN ANY CASE, I WANT TO BE READY IN CASE A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!" Papyrus screamed at his brothers. "I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN! THEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS… WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE! RESPECT… RECOGNITION… I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD! PEOPLE WILL ASK, TO, BE MY, 'FRIEND?' I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING."

"hmm…" Sans started. "maybe this lamp will help you."

"SANS! YOU ARE NOT HELPING! YOU LAZYBONES!"

"C'mon, you haven't even considered it." Corsiva winked. "The lamp really might help those kisses light up your life." Papyrus ignored him.

"ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE!" He berated Sans. "YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERY DAY!"

"hey, take it easy." Sans started. "i've gotten a ton of work done today." He paused for dramatic effect, and Corsiva immediately knew what was coming. He used another thing he'd seen Sans do, and grabbed a trap set from somewhere else in the underground, as well as a pair of drumsticks, pulling them to him without him even needing to shift away.

"a skele-ton." Sans finished with a wink, and Corsiva made a rimshot to accentuate his pun.

"SANS!" Papyrus screamed at his brother.

"come on. you're smiling." Sans said.

"I AM AND I HATE IT!" Papyrus sighed. "WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME… HAVE TO DO SO MUCH JUST TO GET SOME RECOGNITION…"

"wow, sounds like you're really working yourself… down to the bone." Sans shrugged as Corsiva made another rimshot.

"UGH!" Papyrus groaned.

"I WILL ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES…" Papyrus declared. "AS FOR YOUR WORK? PUT A LITTLE MORE, 'BACKBONE' INTO IT!" Papyrus punned, and Corsiva obligingly made another rimshot. "NYEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!" Papyrus cackled as he ran away. Suddenly, he poked his head back, and gave one last "HEH!" And with that, he walked away, to work on his puzzles. After a few seconds, Sans spoke again, the music now gone, and Corsiva having sent the Drum Set back through the Quantum Rift, and back to where he got it from.

"ok, you can come out now." The lazy skeleton said to Frisk, who walked away from the lamp, and back towards Sans. "you oughta get going." Sans told her. "he might come back. and if he does…" Sans winked. "…you'll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes." Frisk grinned at him, as Corsiva vaulted over the counter of Sans' sentry station, and walked over to his brother. Frisk turned to leave, when Sans stopped her again.

"actually, hey…" He started, causing Frisk to look back at him. "hate to bother ya, but can you do me a favor? i was thinking… papyrus has been kind of down lately… he's never seen a human before. and seeing you might just make his day. don't worry, he's not dangerous. even if he tries to be." Frisk smiled at Sans.

"Sure, I'll help you out." She told him. His grin widened a bit.

"thanks a million." He thanked her. "we'll be up ahead if you need us." And with that, Corsiva and Sans walked back towards the door to the Ruins, and disappeared, as Frisk shook her head and proceeded forward.

 **A/N - And, we've finally made it back to when this story TRULY started, when Frisk entered Snowdin Forest. Hope that you enjoyed this chapter, and watching Corsiva interact with both his brothers in their usual manner; puns, teasing, and narcissistic comments. Make sure to review, telling me what you thought of this, and I hope you have a good day.**

 **-SF**


	42. Puzzles, Puzzles, And More Puzzles

"So, you have another cooking lesson with Undyne later today, right?" Corsiva asked Papyrus a little while later.

"YES I DO!" Papyrus replied, looking delighted.

"cool. just try not to burn her house down, or something." Sans advised.

"Yeah. That would not be cool. Closer to scorching hot." Papyrus groaned at Corsiva's pun.

"But back to being serious, you're getting a lot better at your cooking. Did you read my note this morning?" Papyrus nodded.

"IT WAS VERY INFORMATIVE!" He told his brother. "EVEN UNDYNE THOUGHT THAT IT WAS GOOD ADVICE, EVEN THOUGH SHE SAYS THAT YOU JUST HAVE WEIRD TASTES."

"that can't be right." Sans said, his grin widening.

"How can I have bad tastes, I don't even have a tongue!" Papyrus groaned even more, as sans chuckled.

"SO, AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE…" Papyrus started, trying to get the conversation pun-free. Suddenly, he saw that Corsiva was grinning over in another direction, and followed his line of sight. His eyes widened comically as he saw Frisk standing there, watching them talking to each other. He and Sans suddenly started spinning around in circles. Eventually, they both stopped, as Corsiva just watched them.

"SANS!" Papyrus started. "CORSIVA! OH MY GOD! IS THAT… A HUMAN!?" He stared in Frisk's direction. "AND IT LOOKS SO FAMILIAR…!" Corsiva suddenly noticed that Papyrus wasn't staring at Frisk, but something behind her.

"uhhhh…" Sans started, seeing this as well. "i think it looks familiar… because it's a rock?" Papyrus immediately became less excited.

"OH." He said dejectedly.

"But what could that be in _front_ of the rock, Paps?" Corsiva asked, and Papyrus looked over, immediately becoming even more excited again.

"OH MY GOD!" He bent over, and whispered to his brothers. "IS… IS THAT A HUMAN?"

"I don't see why not." Corsiva whispered back.

"yes." Sans whispered back to his brother. Papyrus shot back into a standing straight position, his eyes filled with joy and excitement.

"OH MY GOD!" He shouted. "SANS! CORSIVA! I FINALLY DID IT! UNDYNE WILL… I'M GONNA… I'LL BE SO… POPULAR! POPULAR! POPULAR!" Papyrus suddenly calmed down, apparently trying to regain his composure. He cleared his nonexistent throat.

"HUMAN! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA!" He called to Frisk. "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU! YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL! THEN… THEN! I'M NOT SURE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT." Papyrus stated honestly. "IN ANY CASE! CONTINUE… ONLY IF YOU DARE! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus ran away, cackling. Corsiva smirked, and shook his head, having gotten completely used to this sort of behavior over the past four years.

"well, that went well." Sans said aloud.

"Oh yes, exactly as planned." Corsiva added on.

"don't sweat it, kid." Sans told Frisk.

"Yeah, we'll make sure to keep an eye socket out for ya." Corsiva said, shrugging. And with that, Sans walked in the opposite direction that Papyrus went, and Corsiva just disappeared.

Frisk continued, meeting a few monsters along the way, and knowing how to deal with them all, before she came across Sans, alone. He was standing near a large patch of ice, and she walked over to talk to him.

"hey, here's something important to remember." Sans started. "my brother, papyrus, has a very special attack. if you see a blue attack, don't move and it won't hurt you. here's an easy way to keep it in mind. imagine a stop sign. when you see a stop sign, you stop, right? stop signs are red. so imagine a blue stop sign instead. simple, right? when fighting, think about blue stop signs." She already knew that, but she wasn't about to tell him that, so she nodded. A little bit later, she ran into the skelebros again.

"REALLY THOUGH!" Papyrus started to his brothers. "THAT HUMAN! DO I KNOW THAT PERSON?" Sans frowned slightly.

"do you not know…" He started. "who you know?"

"PBPBPPBPT!" Papyrus started. "OF COURSE I KNOW WHO I KNOW! I WANTED TO KNOW IF YOU KNOW… I KNOW WHO I KNOW AS MUCH AS I KNOW I KNOW WHO I KNOW! …YOU KNOW?" Frisk stood there silently, trying to comprehend what she had just heard.

"Sure I do." Corsiva responded, and his expression told Frisk that he did indeed understand exactly what Papyrus had just said. Suddenly, Papyrus noticed that Frisk was there, and they all turned to look at her.

"OH-HO!" Papyrus exclaimed. "SPEAK OF THE DEVIL! IN ORDER TO STOP YOU… MY BROTHER, SANS, AND I HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES! I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE… QUITE SHOCKING! FOR YOU SEE, THIS IS THE INVISIBLE… ELECTRICITY MAZE! WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE, THIS ORB WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY ZAP! SOUND LIKE FUN? BECAUSE! THE AMOUNT OF FUN YOU WILL PROBABLY HAVE, IS ACTUALLY RATHER SMALL I THINK. OK, YOU CAN GO AHEAD NOW." Step. Zap. "SANS! WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"The human should probably be the person to hold the orb, bro."

"OH, OKAY."

Again, Papyrus unintentionally showed Frisk the exact path to avoid getting shocked, gave a quick "HOLD THIS, PLEASE!" and ran back to where he was originally standing without missing a beat.

"OKAY, TRY NOW!" And Frisk, fighting to keep a straight face, calmly walked through the maze without touching any one of the walls.

"INCREDIBLE!" Papyrus started, exactly as expected. "YOU SLIPPERY SNAIL! YOU SOLVED IT SO EASILY… TOO EASILY! HOWEVER! THE NEXT PUZZLE WILL NOT BE EASY! IT IS DESIGNED BY MY BROTHER, SANS! YOU WILL SURELY BE CONFOUNDED! I KNOW I AM! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!" And with that last cackle, Papyrus completely disobeyed the laws of physics that his brothers had no care for, and just slid backwards away from the puzzle. Corsiva watched this without reacting at all, and Sans was the exact same way, but Frisk let out an involuntary snort. She walked over to Sans, and tried to talk to him.

"Am I helping you out enough?" She asked him. He gave a small nod.

"yeah, thanks… papyrus looks like he's having fun." Then, he gave a small chuckle. "by the way, did you see that outfit he's wearing?" Corsiva gave a snort.

"Yeah, the three of us kind of made that a few weeks ago, for a costume party." He explained to Frisk. "And, uh, he hasn't worn anything else since."

"he keeps calling it his 'battle body.'" Sans said. "man. isn't papyrus the coolest?" Corsiva grinned, and nodded. Frisk walked over to Corsiva.

"So, what's new?" She asked the skeleton. Corsiva shrugged.

"Not much," He started, "I guess there's the whole conveniently shaped lamp thing, I don't remember seeing that." _**Although, you and I didn't exactly meet each other for the first time until this maze, so I wouldn't have seen you hide behind it in the first timeline.**_ He communicated with Frisk. Frisk nodded.

"Yeah, that was… interesting." _**The whole lamp event had more of an impact on me the first time it happened.**_ She said back.

"Anyways," Corsiva started. "I guess I should probably follow you, report your location to Undyne. You know, kind of my job as a member of the Royal Guard." She smiled and shrugged.

"I guess you should." She responded nonchalantly. Chara rolled her eyes at the two of them.

"See ya, bro." Corsiva said to his brother, who nodded.

"yep." He responded. And with that, the teenage skeleton and the pre-teen human set off to make their way through Snowdin. Corsiva bought Frisk a Nice Cream, they both got a good laugh out of Sans selling them fried snow, until they came across Sans' puzzle.

"HUMAN!" Papyrus greeted. "I HOPE YOU'RE READY FOR…" Papyrus suddenly noticed two things. One:

"CORSIVA! WHY ARE YOU WITH THE HUMAN?!" Corsiva shrugged in response.

"I've got to give Undyne constant reports on their whereabouts." He answered simply. Papyrus thought about that, before deciding that it made sense. And, two:

"SANS! WHERE'S THE PUZZLE!"

"it's right there." Sans said simply, pointing to a piece of paper on the ground. "on the ground. trust me. there's no way they can get past this one." Frisk walked over to the paper, and picked it up.

"Ah." Corsiva started his joke. "A word search. truly, the most difficult of all puzzles." Sans chuckled, as Papyrus glared at Sans when Frisk put it back on the ground.

"SANS! THAT DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Papyrus screeched.

"whoops." Sans started. "i knew i should have used today's crossword instead." Somehow, Papyrus became even more shocked and enraged.

"WHAT!? CROSSWORD!? I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU SAID THAT! IN MY OPINION… JUNIOR JUMBLE IS EASILY THE HARDEST." Sans stared at his brother incredulously.

"what? really, dude? that easy-peasy word scramble? that's for baby bones."

"UN. BELIEVABLE." Papyrus sighed, before turning to Corsiva. "CORSIVA! SURELY YOU MUST BE ABLE TO HELP US SOLVE THIS!" Corsiva shook his head.

"I don't read the newspaper." He said simply. "I prefer the science magazines. And even then, I read them… _periodically_." Papyrus groaned.

"HUMAN!" He called to Frisk, looking at her. "SOLVE THIS DISPUTE!" Frisk thought for a moment, before deciding to appease Papyrus.

"I agree with Papyrus, I think that the Jumble is harder." She said aloud.

"HA! HA! YES!" Papyrus started triumphantly. "HUMANS MUST BE VERY INTELLIGENT! IF THEY ALSO FIND JUNIOR JUMBLE SO DIFFICULT! NYEH! HEH! HEH HEH!" And Papyrus ran away from the scene. Frisk and Corsiva walked over to Sans, ready to hear what he had to say.

"thanks for saying junior jumble just to appease papyrus." Sans thanked Frisk.

"It wasn't a problem." She told him.

"Yeah, Papyrus can find difficulty in hard places." Corsiva noted. "Take yesterday for example."

"yesterday he got stumped trying to 'solve' the horoscope."Sans continued for Corsiva. Frisk snorted, as Corsiva and Sans chuckled. Eventually, Frisk and Corsiva continued moving forward.

They both encountered Papyrus again a little while later, after passing by a table of frozen-to-the-plate-and-to-the-table spaghetti, and completing a puzzle where you had to change the "X's" into "O's". He was shocked.

"WHAT!?" He exclaimed. "HOW DID YOU AVOID MY TRAP? AND MORE IMPORTANTLY… IS THERE ANY LEFT FOR ME?" Frisk thought for a second, before she decided to tell the truth.

"I didn't eat it." She told him.

"REALLY!" He said, looking shocked and joyed at the same time. "WOWIE… YOU RESISTED THE FLAVOR OF MY HOMECOOKED PASTA… JUST SO YOU COULD SHARE IT WITH ME?" Frisk nodded decisively. "FRET NOT HUMAN! I, MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS… WILL MAKE YOU ALL THE PASTA YOU COULD WANT! HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH NYEH!" And Papyrus walked away, to the next puzzle.

"Did I forget to mention that Papyrus is a tad bit narcissistic?" Corsiva asked. Frisk sniggered.

When they came across the next puzzle, it was a bit more complicated than the last Colored Symbol puzzle, with snow blocks keeping them from moving to certain areas.

"HUMAN!" Papyrus started, before stopping. "HMM… HOW DO I SAY THIS… YOU WERE TAKING A LONG TIME TO ARRIVE, SO… I DECIDED TO IMPROVE THIS PUZZLE… BY ARRANGING THE SNOW TO LOOK MORE LIKE MY FACE." _**See? What did I tell ya. Narcissism, but not in a particularly bad way.**_ Frisk stopped herself from sniggering again, taking on a more neutral expression as she listened to Papyrus.

"UNFORTUNATELY, THE SNOW FROZE TO THE GROUND. NOW THE SOLUTION IS DIFFERENT! AND, AS USUAL, MY LAZY BROTHER IS NOWHERE AROUND. I SUPPOSE WHAT I'M SAYING IS… WORRY NOT, HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL SOLVE THIS CONUNDRUM! THEN WE CAN BOTH PROCEED! MEANWHILE, FEEL FREE TO TRY THE PUZZLE YOURSELF! I'LL TRY NOT TO GIVE AWAY THE ANSWER!"

Frisk took a good look at the puzzle for a few seconds, remembering somewhere that Drake had once told her that she was a more Right Brain focused person, which, as he explained, meant that she was more in tune with her creative, artistic, and emotional side of her brain. After a few seconds passed, she nodded to herself, before she just… completed the puzzle. Flawlessly. Corsiva gave her an encouraging smile, even though he knew that she probably remembered the solution to the puzzle from one of the previous timelines. Papyrus was shocked, amazed, and impressed.

"WOW!" He exclaimed. "YOU SOLVED IT! AND YOU DID IT WITHOUT MY HELP… INCREDIBLE! I'M IMPRESSED! YOU MUST CARE ABOUT PUZZLES LIKE I DO!" Frisk gave Papyrus a nod, grinning. "WELL, I'M SURE YOU'LL LOVE THE NEXT PUZZLE THEN! IT MIGHT EVEN BE TOO EASY FOR YOU! NYEH! HEH! HEHEHEH!" And Papyrus ran away, towards the next puzzle. The trio of Corsiva, Frisk, and Chara walked/floated over to Sans, who was standing on the other side of the now deactivated spikes, to hear if he had anything to say.

"…you must be really good at puzzles, huh?" He asked, causing Frisk to nod. "i mean. it's impossible for you to have seen this one before." Frisk's eyes widened ever so slightly, but she quickly corrected it, and walked away as calmly as she possibly could. Corsiva looked at Sans, a skeletal brow raised slightly, a smirk on his face.

"How long are you gonna keep this gag going?" He asked his brother.

"as long as i need to, bro." Sans replied, winking. Corsiva chuckled, shaking his head, before he followed after Frisk.

Sans was, somehow, already in the next room by the time that the trio managed to make it to the puzzle, which Corsiva instantly recognized.

"HEY!" Papyrus exclaimed. "IT'S THE HUMAN! YOU'RE GONNA LOVE THIS PUZZLE! IT WAS MADE BY THE GREAT DR. ALPHYS! YOU SEE THESE TILES!?" He gestured to the tiled floor in front of them, and Frisk nodded, noticing that the terminal Papyrus was standing next to looked slightly like Mettaton in his box form. "ONCE I THROW THIS SWITCH… THEY WILL BEGIN TO CHANGE COLOR! EACH COLOR HAS A DIFFERENT FUNCTION!"

Frisk was listening intently to how Papyrus explained the puzzle, though Corsiva kind of tuned him out. Having a photographic memory came with its perks when you had to repeat the same day over and over again. Unfortunately for her, Frisk did not have a photographic memory, so she was clinging onto every word, and wishing she had a pen and paper to write it all down on.

"RED TILES ARE IMPASSABLE! YOU CANNOT WALK ON THEM! YELLOW TILES ARE ELECTRIC! THEY WILL ELECTROCUTE YOU! GREEN TILES ARE ALARM TILES! IF YOU STEP ON THEM… YOU WILL HAVE TO FIGHT A MONSTER! ORANGE TILES ARE ORANGE-SCENTED. THEY WILL MAKE YOU SMELL DELICIOUS! BLUE TILES ARE WATER TILES. SWIM THROUGH IF YOU LIKE, BUT… IF YOU SMELL LIKE ORANGES! THE PIRANHAS WILL BITE YOU. ALSO, IF A BLUE TILE IS NEXT TO A, YELLOW TILE, THE WATER WILL ALSO ZAP YOU! PURPLE TILES ARE SLIPPERY! YOU WILL SLIDE TO THE NEXT TILE! HOWEVER, THE SLIPPERY SOAP… SMELLS LIKE LEMONS! WHICH PIRANHAS DO NOT LIKE! PURPLE AND BLUE ARE OK! FINALLY, PINK TILES. THEY DON'T DO ANYTHING. STEP ON THEM ALL YOU LIKE.

"HOW WAS THAT!? UNDERSTAND?" Frisk, after going through it all in her head, nodded.

"I understand, Papyrus." She said aloud.

"GREAT!" Papyrus exclaimed. "THEN THERE'S ONE LAST THING… THIS PUZZLE… IS ENTIRELY RANDOM! WHEN I PULL THIS SWITCH, IT WILL MAKE A PUZZLE… THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE! NOT EVEN I WILL KNOW THE SOLUTION! NYEH HEH HEH! GET READY…!" And Papyrus flipped the switch. Corsiva watched, a grin growing on his face, as he remembered what had happened in one of the last timelines, and the tiles continually changed, speeding up more and more, until… they all became pink, with red tiles on the outside, preventing Corsiva and Frisk from falling off. And Papyrus, upon seeing this, once again broke the laws of physics, spinning away.

Again, they walked over to Sans, curious as to what he would say to them.

"actually, that spaghetti from earlier…" Sans started. "it wasn't too bad for papyrus." Corsiva nodded.

"Yeah, it was pretty good, for him anyways." He interjected.

"since he started cooking lessons, he's been improving a lot. i bet if he keeps it up, next year he'll even make something edible." Corsiva chuckled, as Frisk grinned.

"Yeah, it's kind of hard for a skeleton to make food for others." He told Frisk. "Most of them, uh, don't exactly have taste buds. I'm a bit of an exception, and can taste food for some reason." Frisk shrugged.

A little while later, they ran into Papyrus and Sans once more, on the other side of a long bridge, which Corsiva knew was just a large rock formation that Papyrus had painted over and added rope to. They saw Sans and Papyrus waiting for them, and prepared themselves, even though they knew fully well that nothing would happen to them.

"HUMAN!" Papyrus called. "THIS IS YOUR FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE! BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!" As the whole mechanism came into view, Frisk had to remind herself that nothing bad would happen, almost forgetting that Papyrus was always incredibly reluctant to even use it, and would put it away for incredibly fake sounding reasons.

"WHEN I SAY THE WORD, IT WILL FULLY ACTIVATE! CANNONS WILL FIRE! SPIKES WILL SWING! BLADES WILL SLICE! EACH PART WILL SWING VIOLENTLY UP AND DOWN! ONLY THE TINIEST CHANCE OF VICTORY WILL REMAIN! ARE YOU READY!? I! AM! ABOUT! TO DO IT!" A few seconds of nothing happening.

"well? what's the holdup?"

"HOLDUP!? WHAT HOLDUP!? I'M… I'M ABOUT TO ACTIVATE IT NOW!" A few more seconds.

"that, uh, doesn't look very activated."

"WELL! THIS CHALLENGE! IT SEEMS… MAYBE… TOO EASY TO DEFEAT THE HUMAN WITH.

"YEAH! WE CAN'T USE THIS ONE! I'M A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS! MY PUZZLES ARE VERY FAIR! AND MY TRAPS ARE EXPERTLY COOKED! BUT THIS METHOD IS TOO DIRECT! NO CLASS AT ALL! AWAY IT GOES!" As the puzzle disappeared, Papyrus wiped a sweat gland off of his forehead.

"PHEW!" He said quietly, turning away, before he remembered that he wasn't alone, and looked back at Frisk.

"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT!? THIS WAS ANOTHER DECISIVE VICTORY FOR PAPYRUS! NYEH! HEH! …HEH?" And Papyrus walked away.

"i don't know what my brother's gonna do now." Sans told Frisk truthfully, before winking. "if i were you, i would make sure i understood blue attacks." Frisk rolled her eyes at that, before she, Chara, and Corsiva all walked into Snowdin Town.

 **A/N - And bam, all the puzzles in Snowdin Forest have been finished. God, that was a hassle to write and make interesting. If I'm being honest, anything in this story that comes directly from the main game is really hard to make interesting and new, when you've most likely already seen it before. But I digress. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, please feel free to comment and/or review to leave me your thoughts, if you want you can share this with your friends, and I hope you all have a good day. I'll see you next time, be back in a flash.**

 **-SF**


	43. Fights, Feelings, And Talking Flowers

Corsiva, knowing that Frisk had already seen this place at its best and its worst already, decided to skip out on giving her a semi-tour of the town. Instead, he simply pulled her through the town, passing right by his house and toolshed, and taking her into the area where she would have to fight Papyrus. As their vision filled with fog, Corsiva let go of her arm, and started glowing his eyes, illuminating Papyrus' outline in front of them, and the tall skeleton spoke thus:

"HUMAN. ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS. SOMEHOW, I FEEL LIKE YOU'RE AN OLD FRIEND… EVEN THOUGH I'VE NEVER ACTUALLY MET YOU BEFORE! I CAN'T EXPLAIN WHY I FEEL THIS WAY… DID I MEET YOU ONLINE? I HAVE MANY 'SOCIAL MEDIA CONNECTIONS.' IT'S HARD TO KEEP TRACK OF THEM ALL. JUST A DOZEN MORE, AND… I'LL FINALLY REACH DOUBLE DIGITS!" Corsiva saw Frisk keep herself from snickering at the blatantly incorrect mathematical statement.

"…HEY, WAIT A SECOND!" Papyrus started again, as if realizing something. "YOU CAN'T BE MY FRIEND! YOU'RE HUMAN! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ALMOST TRICKED ME INTO NOT DEFEATING YOU! WHOOPSIE DOOPSIE!"

As the Speaker started playing "Nyeh Heh Heh!" again, Frisk looked at Papyrus, and said aloud:

"Papyrus, you look really nice!" Corsiva was more prepared for it this time, and was also prepared for Papyrus' serious overreaction and misunderstanding.

"WHAT!?" Papyrus exclaimed. "FL-FLIRTING!? SO YOU FINALLY REVEAL YOUR ULTIMATE FEELINGS! W-WELL! I'M A SKELETON WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS!" Frisk shrugged.

"I can make spaghetti." She said nonchalantly.

"OH NO!" Papyrus said. "YOU'RE MEETING ALL OF MY STANDARDS! I GUESS THIS MEANS I HAVE TO GO ON A DATE WITH YOU…? LET'S DATE L-LATER! AFTER I CAPTURE YOU!"

Frisk easily sidestepped the bones that Papyrus sent her way, before she stood perfectly still, and said:

"I'm not going to fight you!" Again, Papyrus frowned.

"SO YOU WON'T FIGHT… THEN LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN HANDLE MY FABLED 'BLUE ATTACK!'" Frisk remained perfectly still as the blue bones all passed over her, and wasn't phased when her SOUL was turned blue this time.

"YOU'RE BLUE NOW." Papyrus said simply. "THAT'S MY ATTACK! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!" The battle proceeded just like it had the first timeline.

"HMMM… I WONDER WHAT I SHOULD WEAR… WHAT!? I'M NOT THINKING ABOUT THAT DATE THING! YEAH! DON'T MAKE ME USE MY SPECIAL ATTACK! I CAN ALMOST TASTE MY FUTURE POPULARITY! PAPYRUS: HEAD OF THE ROYAL GUARD! PAPYRUS: UNPARALLELED SPAGETTORE! UNDYNE WILL BE REALLY PROUD OF ME! THE KING WILL TRIM A HEDGE IN THE SHAPE OF MY SMILE! MY BROTHER, SANS, WILL… WELL, HE WON'T CHANGE VERY MUCH. I'LL HAVE LOTS OF ADMIRERS! BUT… WILL ANYONE LIKE ME AS SINCERELY AS YOU? SOMEONE LIKE YOU IS REALLY RARE… AND DATING MIGHT BE KIND OF HARD… AFTER YOU'RE CAPTURED AND SENT AWAY. URGH… WHO CARES! GIVE UP! GIVE UP OR FACE MY… SPECIAL ATTACK! YEAH! VERY SOON I WILL USE MY SPECIAL ATTACK! NOT TOO LONG AND I WILL THAT SPECIAL ATTACK! THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE… BEFORE MY SPECIAL ATTACK! BEHOLD…! MY SPECIAL ATTACK!"

Again, Toby the dog appeared, chewing on a large bone.

"WHAT THE HECK! THAT'S MY SPECIAL ATTACK! HEY! YOU STUPID DOG! DO YOU HEAR ME!? STOP MUNCHING ON THAT BONE!" Toby, upon hearing Papyrus shouting at him, once again started sliding away.

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! COME BACK HERE WITH MY SPECIAL ATTACK!" But, again, Toby was too far gone.

"…OH WELL. I'LL JUST USE A REALLY COOL REGULAR ATTACK." Papyrus sighed again. "HERE'S AN ABSOLUTELY NORMAL ATTACK." Frisk dodged everything that Papyrus threw at her with his last attack, getting only minimal help from Corsiva. Papyrus was, once again, panting heavily.

"WELL…! 'HUFF' IT'S CLEAR… YOU CAN'T! 'HUFF' DEFEAT ME! YEAH! I CAN SEE YOU SHAKING IN YOUR BOOTS! THEREFORE I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, ELECT TO GRANT YOU PITY! I WILL SPARE YOU, HUMAN! NOW'S YOUR CHANCE TO ACCEPT MY MERCY." Frisk sighed.

"I'll accept it." She told him. The fog started disappearing, and Papyrus turned away from her and Corsiva.

"NYOO HOO HOO… I CAN'T EVEN STOP SOMEONE AS WEAK AS YOU… UNDYNE'S GOING TO BE DISAPPOINTED IN ME. I'LL NEVER JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD… AND… MY FRIEND QUANTITY WILL REMAIN STAGNANT!" Corsiva frowned, upset at how upset Papyrus was.

"C'mon, Papyrus." He started. "That's not true."

"HOW CAN YOU SAY SO WITH SUCH CONFIDENCE?" Papyrus asked him miserably.

"Because I want to be friends with you!" Frisk answered simply for Corsiva. Papyrus immediately perked up, turning around, as the speaker began playing "Nyeh Heh Heh!" again.

"REALLY!? YOU WANT TO BE FRIENDS, WITH ME?" Frisk nodded, grinning. "WELL THEN… I GUESS… I GUESS I CAN MAKE AN ALLOWANCE FOR YOU!" Papyrus' eyes widened in joy and excitement. "WOWIE! WE HAVEN'T EVEN HAD OUR FIRST DATE… AND I'VE ALREADY MANAGED TO HIT THE FRIEND ZONE! WHO KNEW THAT ALL I NEEDED TO MAKE PALS… WAS TO GIVE PEOPLE AWFUL PUZZLES AND THEN FIGHT THEM? YOU TAUGHT ME A LOT, HUMAN. I HEREBY GRANT YOU PERMISSION TO PASS THROUGH! AND I'LL GIVE YOU DIRECTIONS TO THE SURFACE.

"CONTINUE FORWARD UNTIL YOU REACH THE END OF THE CAVERN. THEN… WHEN YOU REACH THE CAPITAL, CROSS THE BARRIER. THAT'S THE MAGICAL SEAL TRAPPING US ALL UNDERGROUND. ANYTHING CAN ENTER THROUGH IT, BUT NOTHING CAN EXIT…"

"Except for somebody with a powerful SOUL." Corsiva finished for his brother.

"LIKE YOU!" Papyrus said, gesturing at Frisk. "THAT'S WHY THE KING WANT TO ACQUIRE A HUMAN. HE WANTS TO OPEN THE BARRIER WITH SOUL POWER. THEN US MONSTERS CAN RETURN TO THE SURFACE!" Papyrus took on a more serious expression.

"OH, I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU… TO REACH THE EXIT, YOU WILL HAVE TO PASS… THROUGH THE KING'S CASTLE." Frisk nodded. "THE KING OF ALL MONSTERS… HE IS… WELL…" Papyrus' expression became more normal, with him wearing a big, genuine smile.

"HE'S A BIG FUZZY PUSHOVER! EVERYBODY LOVES THAT GUY. I AM CERTAIN IF YOU JUST SAY… 'EXCUSE ME, MR. DREEMURR… CAN I PLEASE GO HOME?' HE'LL GUIDE YOU RIGHT TO THE BARRIER HIMSELF! ANYWAY! THAT'S ENOUGH TALKING! I'LL BE AT HOME BEING A COOL FRIEND! FEEL FREE TO COME BY AND HAVE THAT DATE! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!" And with his final cackle, Papyrus started walking on nothing but air, taking a staircase-like stepping pattern over Frisk and Corsiva, before he started stepping back down the invisible stairs, landing back on the solid ground behind the pair.

Corsiva led Frisk and Chara a little ways forward, before they came to a new room, in waterfall. There was a monster standing next to an echo flower, Monster Kid standing in front of both monster and flower, and one of Sans' sentry stations, complete with the humerus skeleton himself.

"Hey, sans." Corsiva greeted, unsurprised to see that he managed to get to his sentry station without anyone noticing him pass by. Frisk, however, was still slightly confused at the prospect of that being possible.

"How…" She started.

"what?" Sans started, looking at her. "haven't you seen a guy with two jobs before?" Frisk closed her mouth, shaking her head. "fortunately, two jobs means twice as many legally-required breaks."

"I mean, you're not wrong." Corsiva said, shrugging.

"i'm going to grillby's." Sans told the two of them. "wanna come?" Frisk nodded her head.

"Yeah, grillby's sound good." Corsiva responded.

"well, if you insist…" Sans started, winking, "i'll pry myself away from my work." Frisk rolled her eyes, as Sans got up, and walked around his Sentry station. "over here. i know a shortcut."

And, he led Frisk in the exact opposite direction of the bar restaurant, still confusing her somewhat. She blinked once, and when she opened her eyes, she was standing inside of Grillby's with the skeleton. Corsiva, having known what was coming, had already shifted to the restaurant himself, and sat down on a stool.

"fast shortcut, huh?" Sans asked Frisk, grinning at her confused expression. Corsiva looked back at her, smirking, before he turned back around again.

"hey, everyone." Sans greeted the patrons of the bar, getting varying responses from them all.

"Hey Sans," one of them started, "weren't you just here for breakfast a few minutes ago?"

"nah, i haven't had breakfast in at least half an hour." Sans started his response, before winking. "you must be thinking of brunch." Corsiva made a rimshot run through the entire bar without even bothering to bring a drum set with him, and everyone in the bar chuckled.

"here, take a seat." Sans offered, sitting down at a stool next to Corsiva, and gesturing to the stool next to him. Frisk complied, and as soon as she touched the seat, a farting noise came from it; somehow, Sans had slipped a whoopee cushion beneath Frisk as she was sitting down without anybody noticing.

"whoops, watch where you sit down." Sans started. "sometimes weirdos put whoopee cushions on the seats." Frisk's brow furrowed.

"But, it wasn't there when I looked at the seat…" She started, before Corsiva sighed, cutting her off.

"Eventually, you're going to have to get used to the fact that nothing me or my brothers ever do is going to make sense or obey the quote-on-quote 'laws' of physics." Corsiva told her, making quotation marks with his skeletal fingers when he said the word "laws." Frisk sighed, nodding.

"anyway, let's order." Sans said, and they all looked at the menu. "whaddya want…?" He asked frisk after a few seconds.

"I think… I'll have the burger." She answered after a few seconds.

"hey, that sounds pretty good. grillby, we'll have a double order of burg." Grillby nodded, then looked at Corsiva.

"I'll just have a bottle of ketchup." Corsiva said. "Knowing Sans, he'll want one, too." Grillby nodded again, and Corsiva was sure that if he could smirk, he would be right now. With that, Grillby left to go get their food and drink.

"so, what do you think… of papyrus?" Sans asked Frisk.

"He's a pretty 'cool dude.'" Frisk responded, smiling.

"of course he's cool." Sans said. "you'd be cool too if you wore that outfit every day. he'd only take that thing off if he absolutely had to." Frisk's smile widened into a smirk.

"Hey, at least he washes it, right?" Corsiva interjected. "And by wash, I of course mean that he wears it in the shower, but still." Frisk was now completely grinning. Sans nodded.

"and anyways, papyrus was the one who pushed me to get a job, become a sentry. i mean, it might sound strange, but sometimes… it's nice to have someone call you out on being lazy. even though nothing could be further from the truth." Frisk shook her head, still sighing and grinning widely.

At that time, Grillby came back with their orders.

"here comes the grub." Sans said. "want some ketchup?" He asked, holding out a bottle that Grillby brought over, as Corsiva gripped his own tightly. Frisk shook her head. "more for me." Sans shrugged, before downing the bottle in 5 seconds. "beat that, cors." Sans challenged. Corsiva shrugged.

"Okay." He responded, before he pulled the bottle up to where his lips would be (if he had any), and downed the bottle in 2 seconds flat. He put the bottle back down onto the counter, making a satisfying noise like that of slamming down a shot glass.

"I can out-drink you any day, Sans." He said. Sans looked back down at the counter, evidently deflating. He pulled a comb out of absolutely nowhere, and combed his skull, greatly confusing Frisk.

"anyway, cool or not, you have to agree papyrus tries real hard." Sans started. "like how he keeps trying to be part of the royal guard. one day, he went to the house of the head of the royal guard… and begged her to let him be in it. of course, she shut the door on him because it was midnight. but the next day, she woke up and saw him still waiting there." Corsiva snickered.

"That sure sounds like Papyrus, alright." He said aloud. "Asking somebody for something in the dead of night, and then waiting all night for them to wake up and respond to his question in the morning, without sleeping himself." Sans nodded.

"seeing his dedication, she decided to give him warrior training. it's, uh, still a work in progress." They were silent for a few seconds, Frisk eating her burger, as Grillby washed off the counter, the dogs continued playing cards, lesser dog continued losing to itself at poker, the guy in the corner nodded his head to the beat of the music coming out of the broken jukebox, and the other patrons just chatted amongst themselves.

"oh yeah, i wanted to ask you something." Sans started, and suddenly, everything around the three of them froze entirely, and the world became just a bit darker, more black. Even the flames on top of Grillby's head had stopped flickering.

"have you ever heard of a talking flower?" Sans asked Frisk. Frisk sighed, and nodded. "so you know all about it. the echo flower." Frisk nodded again. "they're all over the marsh."

"You say something to them, and they'll just repeat it again and again, over and over." Corsiva said calmly, not affected by the time-freeze.

"Why do you ask?" Frisk asked Sans, though her expression told Corsiva she already knew the answer.

"well, papyrus told me something interesting the other day. sometimes, when no one else is around… a flower appears and whispers things to him. flattery… advice… encouragement… predictions. weird, huh? someone must be using an echo flower to play a trick on him." Frisk nodded, looking upset. "keep an eye out, ok?"

"I will." She responded.

"thanks." Sans thanked, and time around them started moving back at normal speed again.

"well, that was a long break." Sans said aloud, stretching. "i can't believe i let ya pull me away from work for that long." He added, winking, and standing up, and walking towards the door.

"oh, by the way… i'm flat broke. can you foot the bill? it's just 10,000G." Frisk's jaw dropped, and Sans chuckled. "just kidding." He told her, and her expression returned to normal. "grillby, put it on my tab." Sans walked closer to the door, as Corsiva paid for his ketchup in gold.

"by the way…" Sans stopped, looking back at Frisk. He was silent for a second, before he spoke again, winking. "…i was going to say something, but i forgot." And with that, Sans left the bar.

 **A/N - Hey guys, what's up? Did you enjoy this chapter? I hope you did. I don't know what to write for this thing, so I'm just going to give you guys some incorrect quotes.**

 **Corsiva: You're going to hate yourself in the morning if you stay up late at night.**

 **Chara: Joke's on you. I'm gonna hate myself anyway.**

 **Yes? No? Should I start doing incorrect quotes more often? Leave your thoughts in a review. Anyways, I'm gonna do one more.**

 **Frisk: How do Sans and Papyrus usually get out of these messes?**

 **Corsiva: They don't. They just make a bigger mess that cancels the first one out.**

 **Also, Happy (late) Birthday Undertale! As of September 15th, 2019, Undertale has turned 4 years old! Can you believe it? Alright that was great, see you guys next time.**

 **-SF**


	44. Hints and Tips

After a few seconds, Frisk, Corsiva, and Chara all left the restaurant-bar as well, heading towards the skelebros' house.

"Ready to see the inside of my home again, ya creep?" Corsiva asked Frisk jokingly, and she playfully slapped him on the arm. "You know, eventually you're going to have every minute detail of the house memorized." Frisk shrugged.

"I mean, I guess it could happen." She responded.

"If we keep repeating this day enough times, that is." Chara added, not bothering to lower her voice. Corsiva gave a very small nod, so small that if you weren't looking for it, you would miss it. They walked up to the house, and saw Papyrus in front of it.

"I'll be inside if you need me." Corsiva said, walking into his home, not bothering to open up the door, instead walking straight through it. Frisk stared at where he walked through, feeling confused, before she shook her head, and looked at Papyrus, smiling.

Corsiva, upon getting inside, instantly moved over to the couch, and laid down.

"Why am I so exhausted…" He muttered to himself, staring at the ceiling. "It hasn't even been a full day yet…" He sighed. "Or has it been a full day? God, time travel is getting confusing…" He thought it over in his head a few times, trying to think about it, ignoring how Papyrus and Frisk were talking outside.

"In reality, I'm not really travelling in time…" He started slowly and softly, "I'm just sending my memories and consciousness back into a younger form of my body. If that's true, then that means that while my physical body is the same age as it was at this point in the other timelines, my mind is… older? Okay, maybe not exactly older, but my memories and consciousness are… and while this is the start of a new day, technically, for my body, my mind has been awake for over a day now, due to me never sleeping in the last timeline… and I haven't gone a full 24 hours without sleep in a good long while, or over 24 hours for that matter… so my mind is exhausted, not my body. Think I got it." He smiled to himself, glad to have figured it out. He slowly realized just how tired he actually felt, and felt his eyes slowly close, as he drifted off to sleep.

When he opened his eyes, he wasn't in his house. He wasn't anywhere in the underground, actually. Or anywhere on the surface, for that matter. Rather, he was surrounded by black. Everywhere he looked, there was just black. He recognized the place; it was the void. How he ended up here, though, he had no idea. He looked around a bit more; the darkness only seemed to grow, cutting deeper into his surroundings. He frowned as that thought made its way through his head. _**Where have I heard that before?**_ He asked himself. _**It was… Gaster's message to me and sans, right? Yeah, yeah it was. Is this what he meant?**_ He looked around a bit more, when he saw someone off in the distance. They were hanging upside down, their legs trapped by… something. He moved closer to see what it was. The figure suspended in mid-air had a white skull, which had cracks running through it in a few places; so, they were clearly a skeleton. The thing holding them upside down was… _**Chess Master!**_ Corsiva realized, and he felt an urge to rush forward. Following this urge, he leaped at the Chess Master and the poor soul he was torturing. However, instead of being stopped by the oozing black mass, or coming in contact with him at all, he merely passed right through.

"What the heck?" He asked aloud, walking calmly up to the two figures, and attempting to touch them. Again, his hand just passed right through.

"Don't bother trying anything," A voice echoed out from around him, "you're in my memories. This has already happened, so there's no point in trying to stop something that's in the past."

"And who are you?" Corsiva asked the voice, trying to find the source.

"Be patient, you're about to find out." They responded, and Corsiva watched the memory unfold.

"P… please…" The skeleton gasped out, in immense pain. "J… just… end it…"

"END IT?" The Chess Master repeated, chuckling. "MY DEAR DOCTOR GASTER, I THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE MORE INTELLIGENT THAN THAT. WHY WOULD I END IT NOW?" The skeleton, who Corsiva now knew to be Dr. Gaster, groaned as they were slammed into the ground, apparently nt for the first time. The Doctor was slammed into the ground several more times, each time looking worse and in more pain than the last. Eventually, they stopped, and just lay on the ground, and Corsiva saw their SOUL being called into physical view, and took a good long look at it. It was about the same as the average monster SOUL: white and looking like an upside down heart. The difference was that there were tints of grey making their way to, and nearly reaching, the center of the SOUL, as well as black spots here and there, and it was severely cracked.

"STILL HOLDING ON?" The Chess Master asked. "HNN… YOU ARE PERSISTENT AS EVER. YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT NOBODY IS COMING FOR YOU, NOBODY WILL SAVE YOU. WHY BOTHER HOLDING ON TO YOUR MAGIC? IT'S ALREADY STARTING TO DIE OUT. AND WE'RE GOING TO STAY HERE, TOGETHER, AND YOU'RE GOING TO SUFFER AGAIN, AND AGAIN, AND AGAIN, FOREVER." Gaster cried out in pain as the Chess Master impaled him on a rather sharp tentacle. It was at this point that Corsiva looked away.

"Why are you showing me this?" He asked Dr. Gaster.

"Because I need you to see." They responded simply. "See how damaged my SOUL is. If you attempt to bring me back into the physical world now, with my SOUL as damaged as it is, I will perish, and your efforts will have been futile. If you truly wish to bring me back, you will need to heal me here, and only then will I be able to come back."

"But…" Corsiva started, "How am I supposed to heal you and bring you back? I can't stay here too long, I'll be trapped in here too!"

"You're intelligent." Gaster complimented. "You can figure it out. But, I will give you a stepping stone: I was brought into the Void and forgotten instantly because I fell into the CORE, and was instantly erased. But… there are other ways to come here than dying or falling into the CORE, and if you take those ways… it'll take some time before you become trapped here, and forgotten." Corsiva thought about this for a second or two, then he nodded. "Our time is running extremely short, so you must go now. Good luck, Corsiva." Gaster said, and Corsiva felt himself being thrown back into the physical world, and he closed his eyes again.

When he opened his eyes this time, he was back at his home, but he wasn't on the couch. Rather, he was inside of Sans' room, on Sans' bed, the trash tornado (trashnado?) swirling around by his feet. Sans himself was leaning against the wall, snoring lightly. Corsiva got to his feet, stretching, before he walked over to Sans.

"Wake up, ya lazybones." Corsiva said, shaking Sans lightly. Sans didn't wake, so Corsiva sighed, and walked out of his brother's room, knowing it was futile. He walked out, to see that Papyrus and Frisk were both in the living room, sitting on the couch, and looking at the TV. He shifted down next to them on the couch, and asked:

"Anything good on?" Papyrus looked over at him.

"OH GOOD, YOU'RE AWAKE!" He said. "I WAS BEGINNING TO WORRY!"

"Why were you worried?" Corsiva asked his brother.

"When we came inside," Frisk started for Papyrus, "you were asleep on the couch, but your eyes were glowing and you were thrashing around a bit. I wasn't able to get a good hold on you to pick you up, and Papyrus couldn't either. So, Sans came out of nowhere, picked you up with Blue Magic, and moved you to his room, saying that he could keep you from hurting yourself or others." Corsiva frowned.

"How long was I asleep?"

"YOU WERE IN HIS ROOM FOR A LITTLE UNDER 14 MINUTES." Papyrus answered. Corsiva frowned again. _**Alright, what are you thinking about?**_ Frisk asked him mentally. _**I know that look on your face; the cogs in your head are turning extremely furiously, I can hear them from here.**_ Corsiva continued to think to himself. _**I think I have an idea for something.**_ He replied mentally after a few seconds, and a small smile graced his face as comprehension dawned on him.

"I need to talk to Sans." He said aloud, shifting back into Sans' room.

As soon as he reappeared in the lazy skeleton's room, he saw that Sans was already gone. It didn't take him long to figure out where his brother had gone, and within 3 seconds, Corsiva was with Sans, inside of the workshop.

"Sans, I feel like a genius right now." Corsiva started. Sans rolled his eyes.

"bro, you and me both know that you ARE a genius." Sans said aloud. "but please, tell me why you 'feel' like a genius."

"I know how to get him back, Sans." Sans' eye sockets widened.

"you're serious?" He asked.

"I have it all planned out." Corsiva responded, grinning widely.

"how?" Sans asked. Corsiva explained his semi conversation with Gaster, what he had seen, and how Gaster had pushed him back out of the void a little bit before 14 minutes had passed.

"So, my theory is this: Gaster was sent to the Void instantaneously when he fell into the CORE, and automatically forgotten by everyone, because the CORE vaporized his physical body and sapped him of his magic." Corsiva started to pace. "But, I already know that I can go to the Void without needing to do this, and without becoming trapped there for all eternity, because I've gone there in the past… future… whatever, you know what I'm saying, I've been there. I didn't become trapped there because of a few reasons. Number one: I wasn't sending my physical body there, just a manifestation of my SOUL and consciousness. Number two: My SOUL still had enough Magic left to allow me to have a tie to the physical world and stand on my own. Number three: I had determination inside of me as well, which allowed me to manipulate the Time Stream and send my consciousness and memories back to my physical body at a point that was before I went into the Void. And finally, number four: I was never in there long enough.

"See, each time that I went to the Void, I never stayed there too long. The first time, after I was killed by Undyne the first timeline, I was barely in there for five minutes, before I Loaded my SAVE file, and was sent back in time. The second time, after I was killed by Chara the last timeline, I was in there for a whole 30 seconds, before I Loaded again. Then, when I met Chess Master the third time, yes, I was in there for almost 15 minutes and felt my Magic dying away, but I was able to Reset thanks to my determination, which was not affected by the Void, and just start all over again, effectively reversing any and all effects the Void had on me. And then, just this past time only a few minutes ago, I was in there for under 14 minutes and didn't feel any effects, before Gaster pushed me back out, saying that my time was running short."

"and what does this all mean?" Sans asked, though he probably already knew the answer. "how do we get him out?"

"What we need to do," Corsiva started his answer, "is to send my consciousness and SOUL into the Void, find a way to heal Dr. Gaster, both his body and his SOUL, and then pull us both back out before 14 minutes have passed." Sans grinned.

"that is a pretty good plan." He complimented. "i mean, it sounds extremely ridiculous, and it's ludicrously difficult to the point of being nigh-impossible, but it makes sense. so, the question that remains is this: what are we going to do?" Corsiva sighed.

"We need to repurpose the machine." He told his brother, who nodded.

"to do what?" Sans asked for clarification.

"We need to turn it into two separate machines, one to send me into and pull me out of the Void, and another to pull Dr. Gaster out. You're going to work on that here, while I help my sister make her way through the Underground. Text me when you're done. I know that you'll probably show yourself now and then while we travel, probably to prank my sister or to sell hot dogs or something, and I know that you're trying to give off the impression that you don't have any idea of what's going on, so I won't interfere with that.

"When you're ready, and you think that my sister can be trusted with this information, you can reveal the fact that you know. You can test her if you want. But until then, she. Does. Not. Know. I don't want to get her hopes up about something, if it will only fail. She loves to help people, it's pretty much all she wants in life; to help everyone she can. It would break her heart if she tried to help somebody, and failed." Sans nodded. And with that, Corsiva shifted back into the living room.

"Sorry about that." He apologized to Frisk and Papyrus. "Just needed to talk to Sans about something, took me a little bit to find him." Frisk and Papyrus both nodded, but Chara looked at him, a slightly suspicious look in her eyes. He tried to play it off with a cheeky grin, but Chara still looked slightly unconvinced.

"What did you need him for?" Frisk asked him. He shrugged.

"I wanted to make sure that he would be doing his job today." He said nonchalantly, giving another half truth.

"So, uh, how did you guys enjoy yourself?" He asked trying to change the subject. Papyrus delved into how his and Frisk's "date" had gone, with him declaring that she was too in love with him for her own good. Frisk blushed slightly at that. Eventually, they finished talking, and Corsiva, Frisk, and Chara set off for Waterfall. When they came upon some tall grass, they walked partway through, before Frisk looked upwards slightly, and saw an armored figure standing there, and Papyrus walk up next to them, looking nervous.

"H… HI, UNDYNE!" Papyrus greeted nervously. "I'M HERE WITH MY DAILY REPORT… UHH… REGARDING THAT HUMAN I CALLED YOU ABOUT EARLIER… I THINK, UH… HOW DO I…" The armored figure, who the trio all knew to be Undyne, said something quietly to Papyrus.

"…HUH? DID I FIGHT THEM?" Papyrus repeated, before looking away. "Y-YES! OF COURSE I DID! I FOUGHT THEM VALIANTLY!"

"He really did, it was quite a sight." Corsiva interjected after silently shifting up to the ledge that they were standing on. Undyne jumped, but only slightly. Papyrus, however, didn't so much as flinch. Undyne sighed.

"Did you capture them, Papyrus?" She asked calmly, her voice low.

"W-W-WELL…" Papyrus started, still sweating, before he sighed, looking defeated. "NO." He told her truthfully. "I TRIED VERY HARD, UNDYNE, BUT IN THE END… I FAILED."

"What about Sans?" She asked. "Did he fight them?" Corsiva eyed her, a sarcastic glint in his eye sockets, and a skeletal brow raised slightly.

"You really think that Sans would even put in the minimal amount of effort to fight somebody?" He asked her, to which she sighed again and shook her hand. "And you?" She asked. Corsiva shook his head, silent, and gave her a _very_ pointed look. The silent message was easy for Undyne to read from Corsiva's now empty eye sockets. She sighed, though she disguised it as a low growl.

"I guess… I'll have to do this myself. I'll have to take their SOUL myself."

"BUT UNDYNE, YOU DON'T H-HAVE TO DESTROY THEM!" Papyrus tried to convince her. "YOU SEE…" Undyne turned to look over at him, and he shrunk down slightly. "YOU SEE…" He was silent for a few seconds, as Undyne merely stared at him intensely, before he spoke again, a bit more quiet.

"I UNDERSTAND." He told her. "I'LL HELP YOU IN ANY WAY I CAN." Undyne nodded, evidently satisfied.

"Good, now get outta here." She told him, and Papyrus ran off. Corsiva, a bit upset at how she had spoken to Papyrus, gave Undyne a very pointed look, which didn't escape her notice. She stared back at him, before he spoke.

"I know that you only treat him like that because he'll be impossible to convince otherwise," He started, his voice low, "but he's still my brother, and I can be very protective of my family. So, I'll give you some friendly advice: Don't. Got it?" His voice was dark, and his tone told Undyne that this was not open to discussion. Before she could even respond, Corsiva had shifted away again. Unbeknownst to her, Corsiva had only shifted back into the grass where Frisk was hiding, watching the entire thing. Unfortunately for Frisk, when Corsiva shifted back down into the grass, she had shuffled slightly, causing the grass to make a noise, which didn't escape Undyne's notice. Undyne looked down at the grass, moving towards the edge of the platform she was standing on, and summoned a spear into her hand. She looked down at the grass, her head moving from side to side, looking for something or someone (obviously Frisk), before her eye landed right on Frisk, and she froze for a few seconds. Eventually, her spear disappeared, and she walked backwards, away from the ledge, and back into the darkness, where she faded from view, causing Frisk to let out a silent breath that she wasn't even aware she was holding.

She, Corsiva, and Chara all walked out of the tall grass, and stopped for a few seconds, when Monster Kid ran out from inside the grass as well.

"Yo…" He started, looking at Frisk. "Did you see the way she was staring at you…?" Frisk nodded. "That… was AWESOME! I'm SOOOO jealous!" Frisk grinned at Corsiva, who smirked back. "What'd you do to get her attention…?" Monster Kid asked, before laughing. "C'mon! Let's go watch her beat up some bad guys!" And with that, he ran off, quickly tripping due to his lack of arms, and falling flat on his face. Despite this, he quickly jumped back to his feet, and continued running.

 **A/N - And that's where we'll end it for now. Alright, I'll be honest, I don't know exactly what to say for the Authors note right now, so let's just go with some more incorrect quotes.**

 **Frisk: Good responses to being stabbed?**

 **Papyrus: RUDE.**

 **Sans: that's fair.**

 **Corsiva: Not again!**

 **Chara: Are you gonna want this back, or can I keep it?**

 **Alright, one more.**

 **Sans: i love this whole 'good cop/bad cop' thing you two have going.**

 **Corsiva: It's not really a thing. It's more like I'm nice and Undyne is not.**

 **Okay, I lied. just one more.**

 **Corsiva: [trying to hide Frisk and Chara from the police after Chara was accused of homicide] Alright, we need to get away from these guys. Any ideas?**

 **Chara: I have an idea!**

 **Frisk: No murder.**

 **Chara: I no longer have an idea.**

 **Corsiva: CHARA MURDER IS WHAT GOT US INTO THIS MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE**

 **Alright, I'm done. Have a good day, please comment and/or review, and I'll see you next time.**

 **\- SF**


End file.
